Working as a Teaching Assistant can lead to a new career

Becoming a Teaching Assistant is a highly rewarding and valued job at our school.

Abbie Carter (pictured above) started off as a Teaching Assistant straight after Sixth Form and is now a Teacher of PE at Cowley Academy. She said “I was unsure what to do after Sixth Form, but knew that working in a school would be a rewarding and long-term career. When the chance to become a Teaching Assistant became available, I knew this was a great opportunity to see whether becoming an actual Teacher was really for me, and since then I have never looked back. The Trust has been so supportive in helping me get the qualifications required to become fully qualified and the experience as a Teaching Assistant has been invaluable in my progression. I have now been able to work at both Bourne Academy and Cowley Academy and in my current position, I have taken on additional responsibilities to help me develop even further. If someone wants to see if teaching is for them, then I would highly recommend becoming a Teaching Assistant.”

We have Teaching Assistants at the school with staff who have joined after Sixth Form, currently studying or want to fit in a job around the personal commitments. There is no typical Teaching Assistant, but they all share one thing in common and that is they all find it rewarding to help students.

Working in the SEN team, you will provide additional support in the classroom for students and have the opportunity to be involved in extra-curricular activities at the school. It could become a springboard to a career working in the school such as it did for Abbie. Many Teaching Assistants also progress into pastoral roles and we will help support staff in the career progression.

We know that it is important that staff work in a supportive and pleasant learning environment. Our students are polite and well-behaved plus the teachers in the classroom are supported with exceptional pastoral care.

The latest Ofsted reports for schools in our Trust highlighted that the school is calm and orderly, learning is rarely disrupted, students feel safe, staff are proud to work at the school, students with SEND receive the right level of support and the provision for SEND is of a high quality. These are some of the many reasons why Teaching Assistants choose to come and work at the schools in our Trust.

The actual pay for a full-time Teaching Assistant is £19,505 to £20,081 per annum (actual). In addition to this, there is a SLAT Teaching Assistant Responsibility allowance (TAR) of between £500 and £2,000, which may be offered to suitable candidates.

Working 32.5 hours week your normal working hours will be 8.30am to 3.30pm and the job is term time only for 39 weeks a year. We would also consider part-time candidates working 3-4 days a week.

We are currently looking for new Teaching Assistants to join the schools in our Trust from September 2024.

No formal qualifications are required and for the appropriate candidates full training will be given. We do however, prefer a minimum grade C in GCSE English, Maths and Science.

If you are interested in finding out more about becoming a Teaching Assistant, please contact:

• Bourne and Cowley Academy – email hradmin@bourneacademy.org or call 01778 422365
• Spalding and Giles Academy – email jayne.simpson@spaldingacademy.org.uk or call 01775 722484.