Specialist Learning Support Assistant in Worthing

School Name: Our Lady of Sion School, Worthing

Reporting to: SENCO

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 35 hours per week: Monday to Friday 8.20 am-3.40 pm (one day per week 8:30 am-5:00pm)

Salary: £15.00 per hour, £21,037.88 per annum which is based on a full-time equivalent salary of £27,300 per annum

Term time only, 35 weeks per year, including staff training days

Location: Junior and Senior school, West Sussex, Worthing.

Closing Date: 20/08/2026.

Mandatory Staff Inset: Applications will be considered as they are received. We reserve the right to interview and appoint a suitable candidate before the closing date; early applications are encouraged.

The School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

About us: Our Lady of Sion School is a small, caring community where students and staff thrive. We are committed to ensuring that every child is supported to reach their full potential and believe that high-quality learning support is central to this aim. We are seeking a dedicated Learning Support Assistant who is passionate about helping young people overcome barriers to learning, develop confidence, and achieve success within a nurturing and inclusive school environment.

The Role: We are looking for a passionate and positive individual who can advocate for children/young people with SEN along with a willingness to develop knowledge. The Specialist Learning Support Assistant is a specialist role within the school’s SEND Team and forms part of the school’s through-school approach to inclusive education. The role will initially support a child in the Junior School. The purpose of the role is not primarily to provide general classroom support or teacher assistance, but to ensure the consistent implementation, monitoring and review of highly personalised provision for individual pupils with a complex Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Working under the strategic direction of the SENCO and the day-to-day direction of the class teacher, the Specialist Learning Support Assistant will use their specialist knowledge of the pupil to provide professional observations and practical guidance to teaching staff, supporting the consistent implementation of effective strategies across the classroom and wider school environment. This collaborative approach complements the work of the class teacher by contributing specialist insight into the pupil’s learning profile, communication, sensory processing, emotional regulation and participation, while recognising that responsibility for teaching and curriculum planning remains with the class teacher.

The Specialist Learning Support Assistant is expected to work with integrity, initiative and professional accountability, ensuring that the specialist provision described within a pupil’s EHCP, IEP or ISP is implemented consistently to promote progress, independence, wellbeing and successful inclusion.

What we are looking for the following essential requirements:

• Level 3 Teaching Assistant, Learning Support or equivalent recognised qualification
• Minimum of 2 years recent experience in schools, supporting pupils with a wide range of physical/learning needs
• Sound and demonstrable understanding of the SEND Code of Practice (2015), the graduated approach (APDR) and EHCPs
• Knowledge of autism, sensory processing, emotional regulation, communication differences and positive behaviour support
• Understanding of safeguarding and inclusive practices
• Independently able to implement a detailed provision map
• Able to adapt learning resources and environments to meet individual needs
• Highly organised in diary management along with maintaining accurate, objective and evaluative records
• Able to contribute professional observations to planning and review meetings
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

What we can offer you:

• The opportunity to join our lovely school of students aged 3-18 who are supported by a hugely talented and hard-working staff team
• Polite, respectful, committed students who are positive and active learners
• Excellent professional development and guidance
• An ethos of kindness and consideration that is actively lived-out
• Employee Assistance Programme

The School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants will be required to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The School may carry out online searches on shortlisted applicants and all applicants will be required to provide details of their online profile, including social media accounts, as part of their application.

The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The School is therefore permitted to ask job applicants to declare all convictions and cautions on a self-declaration form in advance of attending an interview (including those which are “spent” unless they are “protected” under the DBS filtering rules) in order to assess their suitability to work with children.

All job applicants are considered equally and consistently to ensure that no job applicant is treated unfairly on any grounds regardless of your sex, age, disability, race, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage or civil partnership, religion or belief.