Location: Heanor Gate Spencer Academy
Post Title: Learning and Progress Assistant
Hours of work: Full Time, term time only, 37 hours per week, 39 weeks per year
Salary/Pay Range: National Living Wage/Minimum Wage, Age Relevant
Reporting to: Senior LPA and SENDCO
Required From: April 2025
We are looking to appoint an enthusiastic, committed and reliable individual to work within our successful, forward thinking and highly skilled Inclusion & Well-being team. The role will involve working with a range of students including those with SEND or who may have arrived at secondary school with lower than expected levels of learning.
The successful candidate will be enrolled onto the Spencer Academies Trust “Teaching Assistant (TA) Level 3 Apprenticeship”. This is a bespoke programme designed by curriculum and SEND experts to ensure the adequate needs of schools are met. We are proud of our offer which includes a focus on SEND and literacy with expert facilitators supporting our teaching and learning offer.
Following the apprenticeship programme, the successful candidate will become competent in:
● Assisting the class teacher in the planning of teaching and learning activities.
● Providing support to individuals and groups on teacher planned activities.
● Contributing to the implementation of an effective behaviour management strategy.
● Developing positive relationships with parents, carers and families by taking a partnership approach, maintaining and sharing accurate information where appropriate.
● Contributing to the health and well-being of pupils through the support of safeguarding for pupils by ensuring a safe environment and following policies & procedures at all times.
● Working alongside the class teacher to ensure that learning resources and materials are ready for use in activities whilst recognising and minimising potential hazards and making adjustments where necessary.
● Supporting pupils in activities to develop their literacy and numeracy skills by having an awareness of individual needs, learning targets, and the relevant support required to assist pupils’ development, offering encouragement and feedback where appropriate.
The successful candidate will be an enthusiastic individual who shares our ethos of supporting all learners to achieve their full potential and raises aspiration. A high level of competency is essential. Ideally the candidate will have experience of working within education
Heanor Gate Spencer Academy
Heanor Gate Spencer Academy is an ‘Outstanding’ secondary school and sixth form (Ofsted, June 2023) which is oversubscribed in Year 7 for the second successive year. We are extremely proud of our inspection report which is a testament to 7 years of school improvement. It states that ”teachers are subject experts”, “pupils are ambitious about their future”, “classrooms are calm places, where pupils focus on their learning” and “leaders are relentless in their desire to provide the absolute best education for all pupils and to serve the local community”.
Read more about our Outstanding Ofsted report here:
10268033-Heanor-Gate-Spencer-Academy-137606-Final.pdf
Over the past 8 years we have developed an inclusive, disciplined culture which has culminated in a student body full of aspiration, commitment and success. The staff buy into #TeamHeanor and this ethos of collegiality, team values and moral compass is what makes the unique working environment at Heanor Gate so enjoyable and fulfilling.
As well as the staff being united by the concept of #TeamHeanor, to ensure that our students succeed at school and in life, all students work towards demonstrating the following values in all aspects of school life:
● Respect
● Pride
● Unity
● Resilience
● Integrity
● Organisation
Through an ethos of ‘Aspire, Learn and Achieve’, we believe that all of our students will achieve their very best educational outcomes. This ethos is at the heart of everything that we do. We want our students to believe that they can achieve whatever they want to with hard work, resilience and self-motivation.
We deliver a challenging yet inspiring curriculum and an unrivalled level of academic and pastoral support, and believe that what we offer students will support them to achieve success in the classroom and beyond; academically, personally and socially. Through our curriculum and extra-curricular offer, we aim to instil students with a love of learning as well as helping them to become responsible, independent members of the community who go on to a range of destinations including Russell Group universities, higher level apprenticeship and local industry.
We have a strong culture of professional development for teachers and support staff at all stages of their careers. Our ECT development plan is extensive with bespoke in-house training, closely aligned with the Spencer Academies Trust ECT programme. For experienced staff, our in-house CPD programme is bespoke to need. All of this is complemented by access to opportunities to pursue NPQ qualifications, alongside CPD provided by Spencer Alliance for Leadership and Teaching. We also have a close working partnership with the Chartered College of Teaching, providing routes into obtaining Chartered status.
Alongside the wealth of CPD opportunities, we also recognise the importance of staff wellbeing. We offer a broad wellbeing package ranging from free access to our on-site gym, staff support groups and weekly wellbeing breakfast.
Benefits
We offer a comprehensive range of employee benefits, please visit:
www.spencertrust.org.uk/employee-benefits
Spencer Academies Trust
SAT is an educational charity, Multi-Academy Trust and Sponsor of Academies. We have approaching 18000 children and young people in our academies and employ more than 2800 teachers, leaders and educational support professionals across the East Midlands. We aspire to be a leading regional high performing Trust, with a national reputation for excellence.
We currently have 17 primary academies, 8 secondary academies and one primary aged special school in our family of schools. All of our schools benefit from the collaboration and added value that being a member of our Trust offers, and share our values and beliefs. Spencer Trust academies share an ambition to deliver results that compete with the very highest performing schools in the country and deliver a curriculum for students that is underpinned by breadth, opportunity and quality: one that seeks to give young people the opportunity to develop into well rounded global citizens that believe they can influence positive change in the world.
Mission
Our Mission is to deliver the best possible outcomes for children and young people.
Vision
Spencer Academies Trust is an exceptional Trust, providing an outstanding education for local children.
We Believe:
▪ All children have a right to a quality education regardless of background or ability, and have an entitlement to the opportunity of a secure progression route in their learning and development.
▪ Schools are stronger when they work in collaboration with each other, operate within a ‘family’ and are open to a true sense of partnership.
▪ We grow the effectiveness and sustainability of our schools by developing the people within them, and that through shared and equitable responsibility for quality and outcomes; we achieve more.
Applicants would be expected to share the Trust’s high aspirations and expectations for pupils and staff.
If you would like to discuss the role, or have any queries, please contact Megan Britton (Assistant Principal & SENCO) at mbritton@heanorgatespencer.org.uk or on 01773716396
The Spencer Academies Trust Safer recruitment policy requires applications for this post must be submitted through our recruitment portal. CV’s cannot be accepted. We are also required to request references prior to interview.
Closing date for applications Wednesday 12 March 2025
Interviews will take place the week beginning Monday 17 March 2025
Early application is strongly encouraged as we reserve the right to interview and close the advert ahead of the closing date.
How to Apply
Applications are submitted through our Every Candidate Portal. If you are a new user to our portal, you can click on ‘Register’ to complete your candidate profile. If you already have a candidate profile with us, click on ‘Sign In’. Both of these routes allow you to feed your candidate information into any of our vacancies and view the status of your application.
If you want to apply directly for this role and not save your data for any future vacancies, you can click on the ‘Apply Now’ button at the bottom of this page.
We have added a video to help guide you through our portal, please visit https://vimeo.com/737845492/c1b8e43656
Spencer Academies Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our children and young people. Therefore, we expect everyone to share this commitment. All appointments are subject to satisfactory pre- employment checks, including a satisfactory Enhanced criminal records with Barred List Check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and the completion of Level 2 Safeguarding training. It is an offence to apply for the role if an applicant is barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children (where the role involves this type of regulated activity).
The Trust and its member academies are committed to promoting equality and diversity in both employment and education provision. We aim to ensure that students, parents, governors, employees, contractors, partners, clients and other stakeholders within the Trust community are treated fairly, and with dignity and respect regardless of Protected Characteristics.
Spencer Academies Trust is a Disability Confident Committed Employer
Job Types: Full-time, Temp to permContract length: 18 months
Pay: £8.60-£11.44 per hour
Expected hours: 37 per week
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Free parking
- Health & wellbeing programme
- On-site parking
- Sick pay
Schedule:
Work Location: In person
Expected start date: 22/04/2025
