Teaching Assistant

£22,737 - £23,893

+ SSA + Excellent benefits

Changing Lives, Building Futures

Our vision is simple, but it is a fundamental part of our mission to make a positive difference in our children’s lives. We are looking for that special person that has the necessary patience, resilience, and energy to make the difference for our pupils. Our staff are passionate about this, and we hope you are too.

New Beginnings

Cedar House is well-placed to provide a new ‘sense of belonging’ for young people. We pride ourselves on achieving this as quickly as possible. When everyone adopts this approach, we help pupils to feel safe, secure and, most importantly, significant within our school community. Many of our children have NEVER had this feeling before and it is vital that we reverse the negative downward spiral of adverse experiences within previous schools.

Relationships are key.

You will be working with children and young people with a variety of special educational needs which include social, emotional, and mental health, autism spectrum conditions, dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other associated learning difficulties. Our approach is positive and flexible to meet all the needs of our children as if they were our own. We want the best for our pupils, and we see beyond the labels and negative assumptions from the past.

Little things mean a lot.

Our Teaching Assistants are motivated and fulfilled by the idea of achieving even the smallest positive changes in our young people, so we celebrate the little things. There’s lots of ups and downs, and to some of our young people, just sitting through a lesson can be a big win. We call these huge, small victories and whilst they may seem small on the surface, they add up to make a big difference.

A Team Player

It can be a tough journey, but the positive steps forward will more than make up for it. As a Teaching Assistant at Witherslack Group, you will get all the support you need to succeed. Your colleagues will be the best at what they do, the school environments will be well-resourced, and we will be with you every step of the way, helping you build a rewarding teaching career.

At the Witherslack Group, we celebrate everyone’s differences, as that is what makes us the best at what we do. Our young people come from all walks of life, diverse backgrounds and with different needs – and our workforce reflects that diversity, so that our teams can engage, encourage and inspire our young people to be themselves. You will be more than a Teaching Assistant; you will be able to connect with our pupils because of:

• Your positive and ‘can do’ attitude – a team player who rolls up their sleeves to help others.
• Some relevant experience - Ideally, you will have experience working in a classroom, but if not, we can provide you will all the relevant training.
• Your genuine passion for supporting children’s learning and the positive impact it can have on their lives.
• Your enthusiasm and expertise to support the teacher and work closely with our multi-disciplinary teams.

“Changing Lives, Building Futures” - We really do make a difference at Cedar House School

Enabling young people to progress and succeed is part of the DNA of our integrated education, care, and clinical team and this is achieved by a commitment to truly celebrating the individuality and talents of every young person.

The primary provision provides a nurturing environment which along with extensive therapeutic support allows a seamless transition to a secondary school that boasts a broad curriculum and far-ranging vocational offer. In addition, the state-of-the-art residential offering enables those young people who reside at the school to benefit from the 24-hour curriculum, while living in a truly homely and personalised environment.

The result is that each young person develops the skills and confidence to achieve both academic and life successes, where they are given the launchpad to realise their potential and leave ready to live life to the full. We were recently recognised as Good in Education and Outstanding for our Residential provision.

What we do for you

We know you are 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 will get to bring learning to life and make a genuine difference to the lives of our young people – plus you will get:

• Training: A full induction and on the job training
• Holiday: You will work hard at WG, so you will be rewarded with full school holidays
• Progression: If career development is your thing, most of our head teachers and leaders have been promoted from within our group
• Flexible benefits: meaning you can increase/decrease benefits such as life insurance – check out our benefits.
• Wellbeing: a host of wellbeing tools and advice including employee assistance
• Medical cover so you can claim back the cost of things like an opticians or dentist appointment and a host of high-street discounts.
• Beautiful working environments with the very best facilities – check out our schools here
• A recommend a friend scheme that offers a £2,000 bonus every time.
• Contributory pension (matched up to 5%)

Interested in joining us?

Our young people deserve the best possible future, and we feel the same about our teams. You deserve to have the career you want, with a purpose-led employer, in an environment that allows you to be yourself.

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 application from all sections of the community.

For a full job description and person specification, please see the attached document.

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