Vacancy Learning Support Assistant Apprenticeship
Vacancy overview
Code: 1000317086
Join Birch Wood School as a Learning Support Assistant and help empower students with diverse needs, including SLD, PMLD, Autism, and ADHD. Support learning, personal care, and emotional growth in a flexible, inclusive environment where compassion, patience, and connection make a lasting impact.
As a Learning Support Assistant, you'll play a key role in fostering an inclusive environment, supporting learning, personal care, and social development, while building meaningful connections with students, families, and teachers.
- To work under the supervision of a teacher to provide care and encouragement to children and young people with disabilities or special educational needs, supporting them to participate in activities and liaising, if required, with parents/carers / other professionals as appropriate
- To work under the direct supervision of a teacher to carry out planned learning activities to meet the specific needs of designated children, either individually or in small groups, providing feedback on their engagement in activities and their achievement of the desired learning objectives
- To support the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development of pupils, including contributing ideas and suggestions to support planning, to meet their development needs
- To observe and feed back to the teacher on pupil performance and behaviour, taking action as appropriate in line with relevant school policies
- To help prepare, monitor and maintain a safe and secure learning environment in line with the teacher’s lesson plans
- To support pupils to improve their numeracy and literacy skills through focused learning activities and more generally across the curriculum
- To prepare and utilise ICT resources to support pupils learning.
- To prepare and support the use of learning materials, adapting them as necessary to meet the needs of the designated pupil(s).
- To participate in educational visits and off-site activities in order to support the full engagement of the designated pupil(s)
- To interact with and respond positively to children, young people and adults
- To develop positive relationships with colleagues, providing consistent and effective support and working constructively as a member of the school staff team
- To encourage participation in structured and unstructured learning activities, including play (timetabled and during breaks if required)
- To provide toileting support to pupils as necessary
Requirements and prospects
Loughborough College reserves the right to withdraw this vacancy before the end date, following consultation with the employer.
Desired skills and personal qualities:
- Communication skills
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Team working
- Non judgemental
- Patience
About the employer
Birch Wood School
Birch Wood Area Special School consists of two successful and vibrant special schools- Birch Wood Grange Drive (age 4-19 years) and Birch Wood Vale (age 11-19 years) which includes Ashton House a secondary specialist autism provision and our newly formed Birch Wood College Post 16. We are an outward looking maintained school, committed to our community in Melton Mowbray and the surrounding areas in Leicestershire. Birch Wood provides a highly specialised and completely unique learning environment, which aims to meet our pupils at their point of need to enable their success. We share a culture which is ambitious without limits for our children and young people and aim to provide a high quality, relevant and balanced education that focuses on individual, personal and academic achievement. Across all our sites our ENABLES ethos underpins our teaching and learning to help develop confident and happy young adults ready for their next steps in learning and life. Our teaching and support staff community has an unwavering passion and determination to continuously improve our school to provide the best outcomes for every pupil. In essence we are a reflective learning community, with the highest standards for our pupils care and education. We take great pride in our school and our ability to work together with parents and professionals to provide students with opportunities to progress and achieve both academically and socially. We are passionate about inclusion and embrace our wider role to make education more inclusive for all in collaboration across all sectors and through our work leading The Leicestershire & Rutland SEND & Inclusion Hub in partnership with Leicestershire & Rutland Teaching School Hub. At Birch Wood students are taught in smaller groups, with more than one member of staff in attendance so that we can nurture, challenge and inspire them through to success. We are a well-resourced school with many in house specialists including our own commissioned Speech and Language Therapist and Occupational Therapists. We also offer a range of other therapies and additional support services including Music Therapy, Rebound Therapy and School Councillor. At Birch Wood Area Special school you should receive a warm welcome from students and staff, be inspired by their thirst for learning and positive attitudes, sense their enjoyment and respect for each other and be able to see the positive difference.