Specialist Learning Support Assistant

**JOB PROFILE**

**POST TITLE: Specialist Learning Support Assistant (Social, Emotional and**
**Mental Health)**

**JOB PURPOSE **To provide support and guidance to students by removing barriers to learning in order to promote effective participation, enhance individual learning, raise aspirations and help students to achieve their full potential.

To share expert specialist knowledge on Social, Emotional and Mental
Health needs across the academy.

**GRADE**:Band D

**RESPONSIBLE TO: Inclusion Manager**

**MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES**

**Principal Accountabilities**
- Ensure all students with identified SEMH needs make good progress and academically do well at the academy
- Ensure all students with identified SEMH needs attend the academy well
- Initiate and lead Early Helps where needed for students with identified SEMH needs
- Coordinate a community of practitioners within SEMH across the academy
- Enable the sharing of best practice and training across the relevant community of practice for SEMH
- Share specialist information that enhances teaching provision in order to support learning, participation and encourage social inclusion
- Work within an extended range of networks and partnerships to provide support and learning opportunities to identified students with SEMH needs and improve the quality of services to students

**Leading SEND practice**
- Actively seek and take opportunities to develop knowledge and understanding of designated specialist area
- Ensure specialist knowledge is shared across the academy
- Coordinate termly meetings of community of practice
- Coordinate the sharing of best practice across settings within the academy, seeking opportunities for staff to learn from one another
- Act as a critical friend to other pastoral staff members within the academy

**Supporting students**
- Assess the SEMH needs of students and use detailed knowledge and specialist skills to support students’ learning
- Establish productive working relationships with individual and groups of students, acting as a role model and setting high expectations
- Promote the inclusion and acceptance of all students within the classroom
- Assist students to make a successful transfer between educational establishments and transition at key stages in their learning, contributing to the comprehensive assessment of students when they join the academy
- Promote independence and employ strategies to recognise and reward achievement of self
- reliance
- Provide feedback to students in relation to progress and achievement
- Provide objective and accurate feedback and reports as required on student achievement, progress and other matters, ensuring the availability of appropriate evidence and contributing to the comprehensive assessment and review of students’ progress and achievements over time
- Establish and developing effective one-to-one mentoring and other supportive relationships with students with SEMH needs
- Contribute to the identification of barriers to learning for individual students and provide them with a range of strategies for overcoming the barriers
- Develop, agree and implement behaviour support plans - time bound action plans with groups and individual students and those involved with them based on a comprehensive assessment of their strengths and needs
- Work within the behaviour policy and procedures to anticipate and manage behaviour constructively, promoting self-control and independence
- Encourage students to interact and work co-operatively with others and engage all students in activities
- Assist in the identification of early signs of disengagement and contributing to specific interventions to encourage re-engagement
- Within an agreed system of supervision, plan targeted teaching and learning programmes to evaluate and adjust plans as appropriate
- Use ICT, including iPads, effectively to support learning activities and develop students’ competence and independence in its use
- Develop and maintain appropriate contact with the parents/carers of students and support the role of parents/carers in student’s learning
- Facilitate access to specialist support services for students with barriers to learning
- Negotiate, establish and maintain effective working partnerships with other agencies and individuals in order to address needs and help remove barriers to learning for students
- Contribute to the identification and sharing of good practice between individuals and partner agencies to enhance provision
- Contribute to the development of policies and practices which will promote social inclusion, engagement and educational achievement
- Operate within agreed legal, ethical and professional boundaries when working with students and those involved with them

**Opportunities for Development & Progression**

Staff development is of central importance to WLMAT. We actively seek opportunities to train and develop our staff - changing their lives through learning as much as we change those