Teaching Assistant at West Moors Middle School

Teaching Assistant

Do you have a passion for helping children thrive and achieve their full potential?

West Moors Middle School is seeking a dedicated and enthusiastic Teaching Assistant to join our supportive and welcoming team. Set within extensive grounds and surrounded by friendly, committed colleagues, our school offers a rewarding environment where you can make a real difference to young people's lives every day.

This is an exciting opportunity to gain experience across a broad range of educational and pastoral support, while benefiting from comprehensive training and professional development opportunities.

About the Role

As a Teaching Assistant, you will work closely with pupils, teachers and families to support learning, wellbeing and personal development. You will help create a positive and inclusive environment where every child feels valued, supported and empowered to succeed.

Key responsibilities include:

• Building positive and productive relationships with pupils, acting as a positive role model and maintaining high expectations.
• Supporting pupils' learning and development, including on a one-to-one basis where required.
• Encouraging independence, resilience and self-esteem.
• Providing feedback on pupil progress and achievements.
• Supporting positive social interaction, play and engagement with peers.
• Responding sensitively and effectively to individual pupil needs.
• Assisting with the supervision and support of pupils both inside and outside the classroom, including educational visits and lunchtime duties as required.

We Are Looking For Someone Who Has:

• A genuine passion for supporting children and helping them succeed.
• High aspirations and a commitment to achieving positive outcomes for all pupils.
• An understanding of the importance of pastoral support and pupil wellbeing.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• A willingness to learn, develop professionally and contribute to school life.
• A commitment to supporting learning both within and beyond the classroom.
• Experience of teaching phonics and early reading (desirable).

What We Offer

• A welcoming and supportive school community.
• Friendly and dedicated colleagues.
• Ongoing training and professional development opportunities.
• The chance to make a meaningful impact on children's educational journeys.
• A varied and rewarding role within a thriving middle school environment.

Salary and Hours

Actual Salary: £18,915 – £19,216 per annum (Grade 5, SCP 5–6)

Hours: 32.5 hours per week, Term Time Only (38 weeks per year)

 The successful applicant will be expected to uphold the school's ethos and values and participate fully in training, meetings and professional development activities.

If you are enthusiastic, caring and committed to helping young people flourish, we would love to hear from you.

West Moors Middle School values the diversity of our workforce and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community.

We are 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 Governments safer recruitment guidelines.

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

The salary quoted is the annual salary for the position at the time of advert. The salary will be paid in equal monthly instalments and will be adjusted at the start of employment and again if leaving part way through the school year to ensure the correct salary is received for the work completed in an academic year.

This role is UK based and your Right to Work will need to be established as part of the appointment process.

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.

Keeping Children Safe in Education

West Moors Middle School will conduct online searches of shortlisted candidates. This check will be part of a safeguarding check, and 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. As care must be taken to avoid unconscious bias and any risk of discrimination, a person who will not on the appointment panel will conduct the searches and will only share information if and when findings are relevant and of concern.