Newhaven Outreach-HLTA

A Higher level teaching assistant is required to join our school in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, which meets the needs of young people for whom mainstream education has not been effective. Newhaven is a trauma informed school that provides successful education for students who may have been excluded from mainstream school, are struggling with engagement with learning, have severe mental health difficulties, with or without a diagnosis of ASD, or are in hospital. 

We are proud of our commitment to equity and diversity and the journey we have been on developing our policy and practice through the work of our active staff resource groups who focus on race, sexuality, sex discrimination and gender reassignment. This drives our aspirations that all our students can fully participate in society as agents of change and can make the world a better place. 

Newhaven is committed to continuous professional development with a wide range of opportunities from our extensive TA training programme, our learning focused development cycle, leadership development programme and access to external professional qualifications. 

Safeguarding is paramount at Newhaven School are we are committed to working with dedicated professionals with skills in understanding how to keep children safe in a context of autism, mental health and working with a number of other professional agencies. 

In our most recent survey staff said that they are proud to work at Newhaven because we are ‘a strong team of people working together to support all students to fulfil their potential’, because of our ‘unwavering commitment and the camaraderie of staff’ and ‘we make a real difference to young people’s lives’. 

Newhaven Outreach provision:

The Newhaven Outreach Provision meets the needs of young people in the borough of Greenwich who have a complex presentation of needs and are unable to attend an in school provision and require bespoke support in their homes or local community.

 The Newhaven outreach provision continues to grow and we wish to expand and diversify our already excellent staff team. A successful candidate will have the skills, ability and initiative to engage with our highly complex cohort and the resilience to deal with students who often have multifarious mental health, physical health and/or learning needs. You will ideally have experience with supporting people with neurodivergence or an identified learning need, such as Autism, ADHD, processing delay, sensory integration dysfunction and/or poor mental health. Excellent safeguarding knowledge and skills is essential to be considered for the role. An outstanding candidate will have a can do attitude and the resilience to work with our challenging cohort of bright, energetic young people, alongside a willingness to develop your skills and knowledge. You will also hold a driving licence, have/be willing to purchase business cover on your car insurance and have access to a car. You will be able to organise your schedule of outreach work in the homes and communities of our students and the confidence to work with students on a 1-1 basis, once a professional relationship has been forged.

 Our curriculum is designed to meet the social communication and emotional literacy needs of our cohort and covers a diverse range of academic ability from entry to A level. Through the breadth of our curriculum and our focus on non-academic attributes, alongside the traditional subjects taught, Newhaven Outreach offers a supportive environment for our young people to overcome the barriers to learning that brought them here, and to develop their talents so they can take full advantage of our school and eventually other learning, work or training providers. Our focus on bespoke support and the dedication of our staff team means that alongside academic or vocational skills, our students are supported to develop the skills to self-advocate, learn practical independent living skills and develop their confidence. Students are supported to gain a keen sense of right and wrong whilst recognizing their responsibilities as important and fully participating members of society.  

Applications from candidates who possess the necessary skills, training and expertise are welcome from both educational and non-educational employment backgrounds. The right applicant who has not worked as a HLTA previously will be offered training and shadowing this as part of Newhaven’s commitment to staff professional development.

Working closely with the head of Newhaven Outreach, SENCO, Pastoral Manager, Interventions Manager, Teachers, HLTAs and mentors, a successful candidate would be required to monitor, assess, record and report on students’ engagement, achievements, progress and development. 

Outreach HLTAs are required to deliver support for students held within the Outreach provision, supporting both academic and vocational curriculum and development of student’s independent living skills. 

We are looking for:

·        Specialist skills/training/experience to support students with specific ASD/SEN/SEMH/MH needs

·        Commitment to working holistically with others to support students who often present with interesting behaviours/behaviours that challenge

·        An excellent communicator who works well both in a team and independently

·        Exceptional safeguarding knowledge and experience 

·        A proven record of good results with students with a range of learning and support needs

·        Commitment to supporting equality, diversity and inclusion at Newhaven