Teaching Assistant

Harris Academy Greenwich is a really happy and successful inner-city London 11-18 school with a thriving 6th Form, and a brand new state-of-the-art building. It is a school where we are as passionate about developing our staff as we are about developing our students.  It is a school where we strip out all the red tape and nonsense that goes on in too many places, and just focus on what works for our students.  It is a school where we concentrate on making sure our staff are happy and highly motivated throughout the year, with zero burnout.  Ever.

We are looking for a Teaching Assistant to support our team, supporting the learning and social development of students on the SEN/AEN register. You should be passionate about education and have a flair for working with young people; you should be highly driven and self-motivated, wanting to go the extra mile to ensure that students achieve beyond their own expectations.

What we are looking for:

• Excellent interpersonal and social skills to help manage complex, difficult or stressful situations 
• A basic knowledge of strategies to improve self-esteem to help students improve their wellbeing and grow their achievements
• The ability to work in a creative and flexible way.
• Previous Teaching Assistant experience
• A qualification of minimum NVQ level 2 for Teaching Assistants or equivalent or equivalent experience working in a school.
• The ability to use your initiative.

What are we passionate about?

“I have the great privilege of not only seeing young people grow and flourish, but providing opportunities for staff to step into their greatness in an environment that feels really safe and rewarding.  We’ve worked hard on making this a brilliant place to work and learn – naturally we are all passionately student focused and we touch lives every day, but that shouldn’t come at the sacrifice of staff.  I believe you can have it all in a school and experience tells me that happy teachers make great teachers so we work hard on that.  We don’t grade lessons, we don’t create fear in the workplace and we certainly don’t burn out our staff.  Indeed, we are incredibly mindful of our ‘life/work balance’ which I hope will be refreshing to hear for staff in other schools who feel constantly bashed and ground down by relentless pressure from above.  What we aim to do is engage, motivate, energise.  It’s such fun teaching here.”  George McMillan, Principal

What is the Harris Federation?

The Harris Federation is a highly successful group of schools who serve many of the most deprived areas of London.  We are collaborative, enterprising and share a passion for turning lives around, yet each school is autonomous and free to set its own vision and strategy for how it does that. 

Each Harris school feels completely different in terms of culture, ethos and the day-to-day experience of staff.  Perhaps this is the school you’ve been looking for.

To apply or to arrange a visit, please contact the HR Manager, Nicky Butler on n.butler@harrisgreenwich.org.uk

Harris Greenwich: Step into your Greatness

Applications are also welcomed from experienced teaching assistants interested to train as a teacher through our Harris School Direct Programme: more information is available here think-train-to-teach.

Harris academies are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed for all applicants. In line with our commitments to safeguarding, the Harris Federation uses preferred agencies and is unable to work with any agencies where Terms of Business have not been agreed by both parties prior to an engagement.