SEND MENTOR

Job Description

Are you passionate about helping young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) build confidence, independence and the skills they need to succeed? At Lift Clacton, we're looking for a SEND Mentor who can make a real difference to students across Key Stages 3 and 4.

You'll work with individual students and small groups to help them understand their strengths, develop effective self-regulation and study strategies, and overcome barriers to learning. Working closely with teachers and our SEND team, you'll deliver targeted interventions that help students become more confident, resilient and independent learners.

Key responsibilities
You will:

• organise and deliver one-to-one and small-group interventions focused on self-regulation, confidence, resilience and independence;
• help students understand their individual learning profiles, recognise their strengths and develop effective learning and study strategies;
• create appropriate SMART targets, monitor progress and review the impact of interventions;
• provide practical advice, guidance and support to students with SEND, both inside and outside the classroom;
• work closely with the SENDCo, Assistant SENDCo and teachers to share effective strategies and support adaptive teaching in the classroom;
• plan and facilitate out-of-class learning opportunities for students across Key Stages 3 and 4;
• support students' inclusion and participation in educational visits and wider school activities; and
• maintain accurate records of interventions, targets and student progress.

What we're looking for
You'll bring:

• experience of working with children or young people, preferably within an educational setting;
• an understanding of SEND and the barriers students may experience in accessing learning;
• the ability to work effectively with individuals and small groups, building positive and trusting relationships;
• strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate with teachers, SEND staff and other professionals;
• good organisational and time-management skills, including the ability to maintain accurate records and monitor student progress;
• the ability to encourage students to become more independent, confident and resilient learners; and
• a commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

We'd also welcome experience of delivering SEND interventions, relevant qualifications or training in SEND, education, learning support, dyslexia or ADHD, knowledge of literacy interventions or experience using assistive technology to support learning.

Could you be the person who helps our students discover their strengths, overcome challenges and achieve their goals?

About our school
Lift Clacton is a rapidly improving school at the heart of the community and achieved 'Good' in its most recent Ofsted inspection (June 2024).

We believe every child deserves an excellent education, every classroom, every day. Our staff are ambitious, supportive and committed to helping every student succeed, creating a culture where colleagues are valued and encouraged to develop professionally.

Joining Lift Clacton means becoming part of Lift Schools, one of the country's largest multi-academy trusts, offering excellent professional development, career progression opportunities and a comprehensive employee benefits package.

To arrange a visit or find out more about the role, please contact Saran Vijay, School Operations Manager, at svijay@liftclacton.org.

Who is Lift Schools?
Lift Schools is made up of 62 primary, secondary and special schools, educating more than 35,000 pupils across the country. We believe education can transform lives - and we want every child in our schools to achieve their full potential.

How we support you
We want you to feel supported, valued and able to grow throughout your career with Lift Schools. From high-quality professional development and career progression to wellbeing support and opportunities to connect and collaborate across our network, we invest in you so you can do your best work. Discover how we'll support you to thrive, develop and grow your career in the way that's right for you: How we support you.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response. All candidates are advised to refer to the job description and person specification before making an application.

Lift Schools are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our pupils, and we expect all our people and volunteers to share this commitment. We adopt a fair and consistent recruitment process which is in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. This includes online checks for shortlisted candidates. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, references, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check.

Lift Schools embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. Job share, part-time and flexible working opportunities will be considered.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and there is a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Information about the School

At the Lift Clacton we aim to ensure that every child ends up in successful employment. To that end we ensure that our curriculum creates opportunities for students to become independent and self-motivated with the ability to be responsible, determined and aspirational. All students are individuals who develop in different ways and at different rates and the curriculum is designed to meet those individual’s needs and provide appropriate technology, qualifications and experiences to support students into their chosen career pathways.

The curriculum is centred around core concepts which are sequenced in order to support students in every subject. Core concepts form the bones of the subject. These pieces of knowledge or skills unlock further learning. Core concepts are sequenced in such a way that students are supported to secure each essential concept before moving onto the next. These concepts are focused around a knowledge rich curriculum where students learn topics to a high level of depth to help them to tackle mastery of each subject discipline.

We prioritise the development of reading, writing and communication to support students to access new challenges in the curriculum as this is an essential element for success in our local context. Students have dedicated reading lessons, to enhance their reading skills and build a culture of reading. Students read for twenty minutes a day every day. Subject leaders work hard to build vocabulary and increase the number of opportunities for students to read in lessons, with at least one reading focused lesson per half term.

We recognise our young people as individuals, offering support and challenges to empower them to achieve their aspirations with a high standard of lesson content. Where students need further support they are provided with opportunities within our Remarkable Futures programme (which provides intensive support to students at risk of disengaging with education) or our Transition Curriculum (which provides an enhanced curriculum to accelerate the progress of students who join Lift Clacton with significant gaps in their learning).

Additionally, there are a variety of enrichment activities to enhance our curriculum. Year 11 and the Sixth form have allocated intervention times and a study hub to support their revision as they build up to their public examinations.

Lift Clacton is committed to providing all of our students with a broad and balanced curriculum. It is our belief that this large discipline of all subjects helps our students to receive a strong traditional academic education, while also having time to find expression in the creative subject areas.

Who is Lift Schools?

Lift Schools is made up of 57 primary, secondary and special schools, educating more than 33,000 pupils across the country. We believe education can transform lives – and we want every child in our schools to achieve their full potential.

Our mission:

-We will provide an excellent education to every child, in every classroom, every day. -With excellent leadership and teaching in every school, we will help children go on to lead successful and happy lives. -We will work with others beyond our network to benefit more children and communities.