Senior SEN Learning Support Assistant in Northolt

Location: Greenford, West London

Contract: Full-Time | Long-Term

You've gained the classroom experience. You've supported pupils through difficult days, adapted activities when the original approach hasn't worked and developed the patience and consistency that good SEND support requires.

So what comes next?

We're looking for an experienced Lead SEND Learning Support Assistant in Greenford who is ready to turn their practical experience into the next stage of their education career.

This is a full-time, long-term opportunity within a primary school where you'll continue working directly with children while developing experience beyond the traditional Teaching Assistant remit.

You'll have opportunities to lead interventions, monitor progress, contribute to SEND planning and work more closely with the SENCO and teaching team.

If you've reached the point where you're ready to take ownership, contribute ideas and develop professionally, this could be the progression opportunity you're looking for.

SEND support isn't something you learn entirely from a textbook.

It's developed through experience.

It's knowing when a pupil needs encouragement and when they need space. Recognising when behaviour is communicating something. Understanding that a strategy that works brilliantly with one child may have no impact with another.

Those are skills you've built by working directly with children.

In this role, you'll be encouraged to use that experience more widely.

Rather than simply being given tasks to complete, you'll become an active part of the team considering how individual pupils can best be supported to engage, progress and become more independent.

You’ll work closely with the class teacher and SENCO to provide structured support for pupils with additional needs.

Your responsibilities may include:

• Leading targeted 1:1 and small-group interventions
• Supporting pupils working towards EHCP outcomes
• Delivering structured literacy, numeracy, communication or social interventions
• Adapting learning activities and resources
• Recording observations and intervention outcomes
• Identifying when an approach may need changing
• Providing feedback to teachers and the SENCO
• Supporting pupils with emotional regulation
• Implementing positive behaviour strategies
• Helping children develop communication and social skills
• Encouraging independence rather than creating dependency on adult support
• Supporting transitions between activities and environments
• Sharing approaches with other Teaching Assistants
• Contributing to pupil progress and SEND discussions
• Liaising with specialist professionals where appropriate
• Helping maintain consistent support across the school day

You’ll have the opportunity to work with pupils with a variety of additional needs, potentially including:

• Autism / ASC
• ADHD
• SEMH
• Speech, language and communication needs
• Emotional regulation needs

You’ll learn more about how different needs affect a child's experience of school and how adjustments can help remove barriers to participation.

For one pupil, progress might be completing an academic task independently.

For another, it could be communicating a need before becoming overwhelmed.

For someone else, it may be joining a group activity, managing a transition successfully or remaining engaged for longer than they could previously.

You’ll learn to recognise those different forms of progress and use your observations to help shape future support.

A strong SEND Teaching Assistant does far more than provide another pair of hands.

You'll be expected to understand the purpose behind the support you're providing.

Why is this intervention being used?

What outcome are you working towards?

Is the pupil becoming more independent?

Is the strategy actually helping?

What are you observing that the teacher or SENCO needs to know?

Developing that level of thinking can be an important step towards more senior SEND positions.

You'll be encouraged to become increasingly confident in making observations, recording outcomes and discussing what you're seeing with other professionals.

Leadership in education doesn't always begin with managing a team.

It can begin with becoming the person colleagues trust for advice.

You might demonstrate a strategy that has helped a pupil regulate successfully. You could support another Teaching Assistant to understand an individual child's communication. You may identify that an intervention needs adjusting or provide observations that influence the next stage of a pupil's support.

This role will give you opportunities to model good practice, share your knowledge and become a stronger voice within SEND support.

You may already know exactly where you want your education career to go.

Or you may simply know that you're ready for more.

Either way, this role can help you build transferable experience for potential future progression into positions such as:

Positions such as:

• Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA)
• Specialist SEND Teaching Assistant
• Pastoral Support
• Behaviour Support
• SENCO Support
• Teacher Training

You may currently be working as a:

We're particularly interested in candidates who have already developed solid experience supporting children with additional needs and now want a role where they can stretch themselves further.

Formal management or leadership experience is not essential.

Instead, you’ll need:

• Practical experience supporting children with SEND
• Confidence working 1:1 and with small groups
• An understanding of differentiated and adaptive support
• The ability to build trusting relationships with children
• A calm and consistent approach to behaviour
• Good written and verbal communication
• Confidence sharing observations with teachers
• The ability to work independently when required
• Strong teamwork skills
• Good organisation and attention to detail
• A willingness to learn from experienced colleagues

An Enhanced DBS on the Update Service, or willingness to obtain one, will be required.

SEND provision works best when professionals work together.

You'll have opportunities to work alongside teachers, the SENCO, Teaching Assistants and potentially external specialists.

Depending on individual pupils, this could include professionals working within areas such as speech and language, occupational therapy, educational psychology or behaviour support.

That exposure can help you develop a much broader understanding of how different professionals contribute to supporting a child.

It also gives you valuable experience communicating your own observations professionally and understanding how classroom support fits into a wider plan.

If you've already spent time working as a Teaching Assistant, your next role should help you build something new.

Perhaps that’s experience leading interventions.

Maybe it’s working more closely with EHCP targets.

It could be monitoring progress, supporting colleagues, working with specialist professionals or becoming more confident contributing to SEND discussions.

The goal is that when you’re ready for your next career move, you can demonstrate how your responsibilities have developed - not simply how long you've worked as a Teaching Assistant.

This is a full-time, long-term opportunity in Greenford, giving you the consistency to build relationships with pupils and become properly embedded within the school team.

You’ll receive:

• Weekly PAYE pay
• A full-time, long-term placement
• Experience within an established SEND environment
• Opportunities to lead interventions
• Exposure to wider SEND practice
• Opportunities to develop professionally
• Dedicated consultant support

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