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Choices College is a national Specialist Post-16 College providing a person-centred, Supported Internship to young adults with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Through the Internship, 16–24-year-olds gain work experience, develop independence skills and increase their employability.

The role of a Student Support Worker is to support our interns on a one-to-one basis within a workplace setting to enable them to reach their full potential. Due to the bespoke nature of this project, we cannot accurately predict the number of hours support the interns will need, and the level of support may fluctuate across the academic year. For these reasons, we cannot guarantee the number of hours offered. This is a 0-hour contract. These posts are therefore only suited to applicants that do not require guaranteed full-time hours and are able to be flexible on the hours worked and areas worked within a local geographical area.

The post holder will be a confident communicator with learners who have a range of learning disabilities and have recent experience in supporting the education of interns with SEN in the classroom. A passion for supporting interns with SEN to meet their full potential is essential for this role. The vacancy requires working at various sites in each locality area.

The Student Support Worker’s main duties will include:

• Attending work placements with the interns to support and develop their learning and embedding of work-based tasks.
• Maintaining weekly detailed individual records for each intern that meet inspection requirements.
• Managing the day-to-day delivery of 1:1 support for an intern with autism or learning disability difficulty.
• Delivering high-quality Systematic Instruction based learning.
• Supporting work-based mentors to support the intern.
• The interpretation of sensitive information supporting a very anxious intern to learn to work.
• Assisting in the development of bespoke learning.
• Reporting and communicating information effectively and efficiently to the area manager and mentor.

Choices College is a Specialist College and is funded by the Department of Education. We are proud to belong to South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust. The ethos of the college aligns with South West London’s and St George’s Mental Health Trust. We are rated good by Ofsted. SWLSTG have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ - we aspire to ‘outstanding’. We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti-racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

The Student Support Worker will:

• Provide targeted support to SEN interns on a 1:1 basis in the classroom and placement.
• Work on differentiated activities with individual interns.
• Consider the learning support involved to aid the intern to learn as effectively as possible both in group situations and individually.
• Support the development of social/emotional skills of the interns.
• Work closely with the Area Manager, Coordinator, Tutors and Mentors, to monitor progress of the intern, to ensure effective support is delivered to the learners.
• Report information effectively and efficiently to the Area Manager and Mentor.
• Work with the team to ensure that learners with SEN are supported to learn to the best of their abilities in the classroom and in work placement.
• Ensure that by working closely with the Area Managers and Coordinators that effective support is delivered.
• Liaise with the area teams to ensure that information on each intern is updated and cascaded to the wider team.
• Ensure that safeguarding policy and procedures are followed.

All public-facing roles require a proportionate level of English language proficiency for written and verbal communication and the Trust is required to verify results of certain English language competency tests relied upon. When the fluency duty is met by the provision of a sign language interpreter, the interpreter should be registered with the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People (NRCPD).