Learning Support Practitioner

About The Role
Shape Learning to the Learner, and Empower Student Success - Join us as Learning Support Practitioner

• Please note that this vacancy requires the successful candidate to work 35 hours per week, 38 weeks during term time and the salary will be £17,448 pro rata per annum

A holiday payment of £2,354 will be paid equally in your twelve monthly salary payments in addition to the pro rata salary above.
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As a Learning Support Practitioner at EKC Group's Folkestone College, you will provide support to students who have a high level of need undertaking a range of subjects and qualifications from entry 1 up to level 3 including Functional and GCSE English and Maths.

Students may have a wide range of learning difficulties and or disabilities. Students will require support in their programme of study, work placement and if necessary their welfare/personal care needs.

If you are interested in the role and being at home for the school holidays, no weekend work and no night shifts we want to hear from you.

Benefits
Alongside our priority of excellent student experience, we also focus on our employees. Here are just some of our benefits when working for the East Kent Colleges Group:

• Generous and Consistent Holiday Pattern - aligned with our academic calendar
• Learning and Development Opportunities- If you are interested into developing into teaching, you could benefit from our £7000 investment into teacher training through our in house Teaching Academy, 3-4 annual paid group development days, bespoke training programmes and strong internal progression- 1 in 3 roles are filled internally
• Flexible Personal Leave - Time off for your child's first day at nursery, school or college, moving homes and for interviews
• Exclusive Discounts & Perks - Inc. restaurant, grocery, retail and holidays discounts as well as car leasing and tech purchasing schemes, on-site nursery
• Wellbeing and Health Support - Generous sick pay, counselling services, discounted gym membership at Canterbury College, free eye tests and glasses vouchers, flexible support for medical appointments and return-to-work transitions
• Competitive Pension Scheme - 18% company contribution
• Culture and Recognition - Being part of Community Days, an Annual Staff Celebration Day, and an eco-friendly organisation dedicated to reaching net-zero by 2030

About You
If you have strong communication skills, an understanding of behaviour management, have a passion to inspire students to be active in learning, and work well under pressure this is the ideal role for you.

You will be passionate about supporting students with a high level of need and ideally will have gained previous experience with working alongside individuals with visual and/or hearing impairments, global development delay and language & communication difficulties.

In your role you will be a member of a team to support students in small groups and during lectures who have: Autistic Spectrum Condition, Social, Emotional and Mental health needs, Global learning delay, Language & Communication, Sensory, Physical needs experience in working with the above needs would be an advantage. This may also include personal care, assisting with mobility and specific medical/feeding needs. Experience in working with the above needs would be an advantage but full training will be given.

No need to spend time updating your CV, just click apply and complete our short application form. You can save your progress as you go, and we'll review all applications and get back to all candidates after the closing date.

If you are interested in an informal chat about the role, or have any queries, please email us on

About Us
Outstanding Ofsted Provider
East Kent Colleges Group is an Ofsted Outstanding rated provider. It is proud to be the first General Further Education college organisation in the country to have received the Outstanding grade against each of the strands under the new Ofsted inspection framework. An inclusive provider, our colleagues place our students and the communities we serve at the heart of everything they do across EKC Group and this is illustrated in our 'Strong' skills grading by Ofsted.

Commitment to Safeguarding
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and we ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities for upholding these principles.

As a designated establishment, we are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore have an obligation to carry out checks to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults. These checks include conviction/caution self-declaration, Enhanced DBS check and obtaining sufficient referencing.

It is a criminal offence to apply for a post which involves engaging in regulated activity relevant to children if you are barred from doing so.

If you are successful in being shortlisted to interview, your suitability to work with children and vulnerable adults will be explored as part of the interview process.

Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
East Kent Colleges Group is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all members of our communities. We are particularly keen to increase the diversity of our staff body and encourage applications from candidates where there is underrepresentation in our workforce.

We are proud to hold the
Positive About Disability Award
and are a
Disability Confident Employer
. This confirms our commitment to interviewing all applicants who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. With any successful candidate, we will explore any reasonable adjustments to a role due to a health needs or disability.

Similarly, we have a commitment to
Care Leavers (Care Covenant Pledge)
and to current or previous
Armed Forces personnel (Armed Forces Covenant Pledge)
with a commitment to interview applicants who meet the positions essential criteria and who have declared this on their application.

We welcome applications from anyone wishing to work flexibly and those considering a return to work from a career break.

We do not engage with agencies for permanent staff and have an in-house recruitment team.