Teaching Assistant

Up to £44,229 + Excellent Benefits

Those Huge Small Victories

For children with complex, challenging needs, the level of care and education must go above and beyond. That’s what drives us, here at Witherslack Group. As a Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Lead you will focus on supporting staff teams to create capable environments where our young people can thrive. Our teams are fulfilled by the idea of making even the smallest positive changes in our young people, so we celebrate the little things.

Get out what you put in

As a PBS lead, you will be assisting with the development, organisation, and delivery of a high-quality Positive Behaviour Support approach allowing children to develop the skills they need to enjoy the best quality of life possible. Co-production will be a key part of your role, working in partnership with children and their families to identify any individual support needs, challenges impacting on their quality of life and develop effective individualised plans.

As a practice leader, you will ensure our staff teams benefit from the delivery of person-centred PBS training, the role modelling of good practice and coaching relating to individualised plans.

One of the best environments in SEND

Lavender Lodge school resides within an 18th Century building in the heart of Mitcham. Our pupils come from many different boroughs to attend our school and are lucky to experience ‘a life changing love of learning.’ We are proud of our pupils and our dedicated team and pupils leave us with a sense of achievement. Having joined the Witherslack Group family in 2022,

Lavender Lodge School is an independent specialist day school providing high-quality education, based in South London. The school meets the needs of pupils with a primary diagnosis of autism and additional needs such as ADHD, speech and language difficulties, sensory issues and associated behavioural difficulties. We were recently recognised as Good by Ofsted.

Skill set requirements –

•             Must have worked with pupils who are autistic and have previous experience of this

•             Needs to be able to communicate in a variety of ways as 70% of our pupils are non-verbal e.g. can use Makaton, picture display symbols – we use PEC’s and PODD, have experience working with non -verbal pupils

•             Have worked with pupils who display challenging behaviour but would have the will and desire to support pupils to manage their behaviour and also for you to work to understand the  function of the behaviour

•             Be flexible to work with pupils from 4 through to 11 years old

•             Be able to think outside the box in regards to delivering lessons. We have lots of tools to help support this, but our pupils need a bespoke and accessible curriculum

•             Have an awareness of autism strategies such as TEACCH, attention autism and use of PODD and be able to use these in practise

What we do for you

We know you’re going to do great things. For your hard work and commitment, we reward you with the best salary and benefits package in the education sector. With us, you’ll get to bring learning to life and make a genuine difference to the lives of our young people – plus you’ll get:

• Salary: £40,400 - £44,229 (Dependent upon experience)

• Training: A full induction and on-the-job training

• Holiday: You’ll work hard at WG, so you’ll be rewarded with 10 weeks of annual leave (Please note, you will be required to take these in line with school holidays)

• Progression: If career development is your thing, we offer the opportunity to complete continued professional development through our annual performance review process. 

• Flexible benefits package : meaning you can increase/decrease benefits such as life insurance – check out our benefits  here

• Wellbeing: a host of wellbeing tools and advice including employee assistance

• Medical cover so you can claim back the cost of things like an optician's or dentist appointment and a host of high-street discounts

• Beautiful working environments with the very best facilities – check out our schools  here

• Recommend a friend scheme that offers a £1,000 bonus every time

• Contributory pension scheme – matched up to 5%

Bring your whole self to work

Our young people have very diverse backgrounds and all have different needs. Our workforce reflects diversity so our teams can engage, encourage, and inspire them to be themselves. We are looking for:

• A minimum of three years’ experience supporting individuals with Special Educational Needs

• A relevant qualification (SEN/Health & Social Care)

• In-depth knowledge of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

• Understanding of individual behaviour support plans, young person risk assessments and targeted support

• Experience of identifying and delivering training needs

• Extensive experience of working in partnership with young people and their families

• Ability to support others to understand behaviours and collaborate to create and implement proactive strategies

• You’re also highly organised and ready to take the initiative

• We genuinely care about our young people (and each other) so honesty and empathy is a must

Interested in joining us?

At Witherslack Group, inclusion is part of who we are. We’re committed to creating an environment where everyone feels respected, valued and that they truly belong.

As a specialist provider of education and care for children and young people with special educational needs, we understand the importance of embracing individuality and championing difference- especially when it comes to neurodiversity. We celebrate diverse perspectives, lived experiences, and the unique strengths that each person brings to our community.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, and abilities. We are proud to be recognised as an inclusive employer and are committed to making our recruitment and workplace practices inclusive and accessible. If you need any adjustments to support you through the recruitment process or in the workplace, we’ll be there every step of the way.

By building a diverse and inclusive team, we’re better able to support the children, young people and families we serve and ensure every member of our team can thrive, grow, and be their authentic self.

The Witherslack Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of its young people. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check (we will cover the cost) and an online search. We are an equal opportunities employer welcoming applications from all sections of the community.

For a full and person specification, please click here.

To view our ex-offenders policy please click here.

To view our Child Protection Policy, please visit the 'Parents and Carers' section of this School/Learning centre. You can find all our Schools here.

Special Education / Careers in Care / Careers in Special Education / Working with Children / SEMH / SEN / ASD