Teaching Assistant Pencalenick School

About us:

We are a specialist educational trust on a journey to raise the bar and set new standards for Special Educational Needs (SEN) throughout the South West.

The Trust was founded in 2016 and is currently made up of 10 schools and 4 ARBs. Unlike other trusts, we are purely made up of SEN schools and ARBs. This puts us in a unique position to do things differently.

We realised early on in our journey that there wasn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. So we developed a philosophy that places our young people front and centre. Every decision we take is based on meeting the needs of our young people and helping them succeed. And when we say ‘succeed’ we don’t just mean academically. 

When you work with us you'll be joining a specialist educational trust on a journey to raise the bar and set new standards for Special Educational Needs (SEN) throughout the UK.

We are not afraid to do things differently and we never settle for ordinary. We aspire to be the best in everything that we do. We provide our young people with the highest quality education, give them access to the best opportunities available to them, and take pride in giving them a sense of self-worth and purpose - built on a foundation of resilience and independence.

Through collaboration, co-operation, and creativity - underpinned by an ethos built on inclusivity, empowerment, and transparency - we aim to inspire every single young person (as well as their families and our staff) to be the very best versions of themselves they possibly can. We do this through an ambitious, specialist curriculum that goes beyond school life and focuses on living as well as learning.

We step outside the comfort zone when it’s needed, we care more than people think is needed or necessary, and we genuinely want to improve the lives and experiences of our learners. We dare to be different, we have courage in our convictions, and we strive every single day to draw the best out of everything and everyone in our community.

We are...

Ambitious: We believe in setting new standards and consistently raising them through the quality of our work and approach.

Aspirational: We dream big and are brave enough to act on our aspirations. Invested. We care. It’s easy to say but, for us, it flows through every part of the Trust. We are invested in improving the lives of our young people both now and into the future.

Purposeful: We don’t do things for the sake of doing them. We are driven by our purpose and committed to turning our vision into a reality.

Genuine: Honesty, transparency, and authenticity are what all our work is built on. Inclusive. Every single voice matters. Everyone can have ideas, express views, and be heard.

Energetic: We make SEN exciting. We are the go-getters and the trend-setters. We are not bound by convention and infuse our energy and passion through everything we do.

Specialist: We are a specialist trust and this gives us a unique and unprecedented insight into the needs of our young people and their families.

Key Responsibilities:

Expectations

• Hold and articulate clear values and moral purpose, focused on supporting pupils.

• Demonstrate optimistic personal behaviour, positive relationships and attitudes towards pupils with profound, severe and complex learning needs, the workforce, and towards parents, governors and local community.

• Lead by example - with integrity, creativity, resilience, and clarity

  Sustain knowledge and understanding of education and school systems locally and pursue continuous professional development.

Main duties

• Assist children in developing knowledge, skills and attitudes as defined by the curriculum, taking into account the learning support involved to aid the children to learn effectively

• Establish supportive relationships with pupils, encouraging individual development, acceptance, social integration, and development of self-esteem

• Carry out administration in relation to pupil progress, monitoring health, behaviour and general wellbeing and feeding back or adapting as appropriate

• Effectively use IT systems as required by the school

• Work independently with groups of children on specific tasks, under the overall responsibility of the Teacher

• Contribute to meetings with parents (which may be held outside of school hours), providing constructive feedback on pupil progress, achievement and behaviour where relevant

• Maintain confidentiality in regards to sensitive issues linked to home/pupil/staff/school

• Administer minor first aid where training has been undertaken

• Administer medically prescribed drugs as per the approved procedure

• Assist with the safe physical and medical needs of pupils, including:

• personal hygiene/self-care/ Intimate care, , for example toileting or changing

• specialist care, for example one-to-one feeding where training has been undertaken

• mobility needs, for example use of wheelchairs or hoists where training has been undertaken

• Support in the management of pupils with challenging emotional and behavioural difficulties so as to prevent harm and disruption to the pupil or others

• Supervise pupils during break time, and plan and organise play time activities, where required

• Accompany children on educational visits as supervised by senior staff

• Contribute to class meetings, staff meetings and school-based INSET

• Carry out interventions as required

• Raise any concerns in accordance with the school’s safeguarding policies and procedures

• Assist with duties relating to pupil swimming and sports activities/events where relevant

• Deliver therapy to pupils such as physiotherapy or speech and language therapy as guided by professionals where training has been undertaken

• Input into planning of lesson content led by teaching staff where relevant

• Provide pastoral care to pupils where relevant

• Ensure all teaching aids are readily available by monitoring stock levels of materials, checking for missing/damaged equipment, arranging for new supplies to be ordered where relevant

• Assist in preparing, using and maintaining relevant teaching resources, including wall displays and ensuring classrooms are left clean and tidy.

Our Total Reward offer.

The special Partnership Trust recognises the importance of developing a properly implemented People Strategy to underpin the overall strategic aims of the Trust.

Our People Strategy is designed to help us attract prospective high calibre candidates, as well as drive engagement, productivity and retention of our high performing and high potential employees. It reflects our belief in putting our people first. This does not mean putting our learners second. It is based on the philosophy that if we create a positive and rewarding work environment, if our staff feel motivated, well managed and well supported, they in turn will provide the best possible outcome for our learners.

We recognise that our total reward offer, has got to consist of more than just money. We seek to provide our staff