Special Support Assistant

Special Support Assistant

We have a range of posts available working either 15 or 30 hours a week on a fixed term contract, between the hours of 8:45am - 3:15pm, Monday to Friday term time only, to work with some of our children

Fixed term whilst funded 

We are seeking to appoint Special Support Assistants to work with our wonderful children. All of the children at St Matthew's are special, with some needing additional, personalised support to help them to flourish. If you're the sort of person who can provide that level of support, and you're committed to ensuring the very best for our children and you share our vision of happy, successful and confident learners then we'd love to hear from you.

We serve a richly diverse, multicultural, multifaith and multilingual community. In our SIAMS inspection (June 2022) St Matthew's was described as "a place of hope and compassion", can you join us in providing hope to our community and be compassionate to those in need? Our vision leads us to ensure each member of our community can "Be blessed by God, be happy and aspire to be..." Are you the person we are looking for to join us in delivering this for our community?

St Matthew's has been serving the local community for 149 years. Our pastoral care for our families is described as “exceptional”. We are very proud that our care for our children and families is recognised and we expect all who seek to work with us to share this dedication.

The successful candidate will:

• Have GCSE English and Maths at grade C or above.
• Care passionately for all our children, no matter what their barriers are, or the challenges they bring into school
• Build professional relationships with children, staff, parents and outside agencies
• Have some knowledge and experience of safeguarding, behaviour support and pastoral support
• Lead groups and work with and support children for whom English is not their first language
• Liaise with teachers to support pupils and raise achievement

The ability to speak or write in Romanian or other eastern European languages would be a distinct advantage.

We can offer:

• Delightful and polite children who are keen to learn
• Hardworking, caring and committed staff who all work to make a real difference for our children
• Supportive parents
• A warm, friendly school, where children are at the heart of everything we do
• Opportunities to develop professionally
• Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Access to health and wellbeing support for you and your family
• Employment within a Trust committed to equality of opportunity and nationally and locally negotiated pay arrangements.
• Terms and conditions protected through a formal trade union recognition agreement with all the major education and support staff unions, and supported through regular JCNC meetings.
• Access to employee benefits & rewards through Perkbox
• Cycle to work scheme

Please ensure that you refer to the job description and person specification as only those candidates that meet the criteria will be considered for shortlisting. 

Please note CVs are not accepted. To apply for this vacancy you need to complete the online Eteach application form. If successful, pre-employment checks, including an enhanced DBS clearance will be undertaken.

If you wish to discuss this role further, please contact Mr Mark Mackley (Headteacher).

Closing date: Friday 1st December 2023

Proposed interview date: Thursday 7th December 2023

Please note that in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023, an online search will be carried out as part of our safer recruitment pre-employment checks on shortlisted candidates.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Any offer of employment will be subject to a satisfactory enhanced DBS check. The check will include any cautions, reprimands or final warnings as well as convictions. Further information is available below.

We are a member of Cidari Multi Academy Trust, established in November 2013, a growing educational trust and part of the Blackburn Diocese. Cidari Education is committed to providing high quality education for all children in our academies based on clearly established Christian values and principles.