Senior Teaching Assistant - Westfield Arts College

About the Role

Westfield Arts College - Senior Teaching Assistant

Salary: £21,514 - £23,692 pro rated per annum, pay award pending (XS10.9 Dorset Grade 7 SCP 8 14).

Hours: 34 hours per week - Monday to Friday 8:30 to 3:45 (8:30 to 4:30 on Tuesday).

Employment: Permanent - Term Time Only, 39 weeks per year.

We are looking for two highly motivated, enthusiastic Senior Teaching Assistants to join our friendly team and support EYFS/KS1 aged children with a range of special educational needs and disabilities.

Responsibilities

• Have a significant role to play in complementing the professional work of the class teacher through the planning, delivery and monitoring of learning activities, tailored to individual EHCP outcomes.
• Support and maintain a therapeutic classroom environment that promotes regulation, safety and engagement.
• Use Therapeutic Thinking approaches to understand and support behaviour, fostering resilience and personal development.
• Support the personal care and health needs of children and young people, as appropriate.
• Work closely with families, teaching staff, teaching assistants, therapists and external agencies to ensure holistic support for each young person.

Qualifications

• Have successful classroom experience working with EYFS/KS1 pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
• Have strong literacy and numeracy skills and have achieved (or are working towards) a qualification in English/literacy and mathematics/numeracy, equivalent to at least Level 3 of the National Qualifications Framework.
• Be passionate about helping young people develop confidence, independence and self esteem.
• Demonstrate excellent communication and relational skills with children, young people, families and colleagues.
• Be creative, reflective and solution focused, able to adapt and differentiate to meet diverse needs.
• Be committed to ongoing professional development and to contributing positively to Westfield's ambitious Broadening Horizons curriculum.

Benefits

• A highly supportive and collaborative staff team that values therapeutic practice and emotional wellbeing.
• Ongoing training and development in Therapeutic Thinking, communication approaches and SEND pedagogy.
• Excellent facilities, beautiful grounds and welcoming learning environment.
• A school community that celebrates progress in all its forms - academic, social and emotional.
• A real opportunity to make a lasting difference to the lives of extraordinary young people.

About the School

Westfield is a highly regarded 4 19, 230 pupil Dorset special school. All pupils have significant learning difficulties, some with additional complex needs. Ofsted judged us as outstanding in February 2023. Further information about Westfield can be found at .

Legal & EEO Statements

Westfield Arts College values the diversity of our workforce and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community.

Westfield Arts College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people; this is a commitment which we expect all staff and volunteers to share. The successful candidate will be required to have a Disclosure and Barring Service check in line with the Government's safer recruitment guidelines.

The pro rated salary shown is based on the number of hours and weeks worked and includes appropriate paid annual leave and bank holiday entitlements.

Keeping Children Safe in Education: Westfield Arts College will conduct online searches of shortlisted candidates as part of a safeguarding check. The search will purely be based on whether an individual is suitable to work with children. All aspects of social media and internet searches will be conducted. The searches will be performed by a neutral person and only shared if findings are relevant and of concern.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The amendments to the ROA 1974 (Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020) provide that when applying for certain jobs and activities, certain spent convictions and cautions are 'protected', so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. The MOJ's guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975, provides information about which convictions must be declared during job applications and related exceptions and further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide.