Learning Support Assistant (ASC Specialist) – Secondary & Post-16 (KS3–KS5)
Location: Deal (Rural Specialist SEND Setting)
Contract Type: Permanent and Temporary Contracts Available
Are you passionate about supporting young people with complex additional needs? Do you have the patience, empathy, and dedication to help students with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) thrive academically, socially, and personally as they prepare for adulthood?
We are currently seeking a committed and enthusiastic ASC Learning Support Assistant to join our dedicated team at our supportive, inclusive, and beautifully situated rural specialist SEND school. This is a highly rewarding opportunity to make a genuine difference in the lives of students across Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4, and Key Stage 5, helping them build confidence, independence, communication skills, and positive learning experiences within a specialised environment.
The successful candidate will work closely with students with ASC in small class settings. Our pupils often present with associated needs such as speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN), sensory processing differences, high anxiety, or social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) challenges.
About the Role
As an ASC Learning Support Assistant in our specialist school, you will play a vital role in supporting students both inside the classroom and across our wider rural campus. You will help maintain a highly structured, nurturing, and predictable environment where teenagers and young adults feel safe, understood, and encouraged to achieve their full potential.
You will provide support on a 1:1 basis or within very small class groups, adapting learning activities to meet individual profiles—including adapted GCSE, BTEC, and functional skills curriculums. You will utilise evidence-based, autism-friendly approaches to reduce anxiety, encourage active participation, and foster independent living skills.
The role requires someone who remains calm under pressure, is highly proactive, and can build trusting, respectful relationships with young people who may have previously struggled in mainstream education.
Key Responsibilities
- Specialist Curriculum Support: Support students with ASC in accessing tailored learning activities across KS3, KS4, and KS5, including academic, vocational, and life-skills subjects.
- Therapeutic Collaboration: Work closely with our internal multidisciplinary team, implementing strategies from speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, and the SENCo.
- Communication & Social Skills: Encourage effective communication, self-advocacy, and positive peer interaction appropriate for teenagers and young adults.
- Regulation & Sensory Support: Assist students with emotional regulation and sensory processing needs, utilising our specialist sensory spaces, outdoor environments, and tailored regulation plans.
- EHCP Delivery: Actively implement and track targets set out in students’ Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).
- Resource Adaptation: Help adapt learning materials and visual supports to suit individual executive functioning profiles and learning styles.
- Rural & Enrichment Support: Accompany and support students during outdoor learning, rural enrichment activities, break times, and community visits.
- Preparation for Adulthood: Focus heavily on promoting independence, self-esteem, and practical life skills to prepare learners for post-16 and post-18 transitions.
- Progress Monitoring: Monitor student engagement, manage low-arousal interventions, minimise challenging behaviour, and provide feedback to class teachers and the pastoral team.
The Ideal Candidate Will Have
- Experience: Working with young people (aged 11–18+) with ASC and complex SEND in a school, care, residential, or transferable setting.
- Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach: A calm, patient, compassionate, and resilient nature, with a deep commitment to positive, non-restrictive support strategies.
- Communication: Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to connect authentically with teenagers and young adults.
- Knowledge: An understanding of Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), sensory integration, and strategies that support communication and reduce anxiety.
- Adaptability: The ability to thrive in a specialised environment that values outdoor learning and flexible, student-centred timetables.
- Teamwork: Excellent collaboration skills to work effectively alongside teachers, therapists, and families.
- Good Academic Foundation: GCSEs or equivalent in Maths and English a must.
Desirable Experience
Experience or training in any of the following areas would be advantageous:
- Specialist SEND schools, alternative provisions, or residential care.
- Youth work, outdoor education, or mentoring vulnerable young people.
- Mental health and wellbeing support (e.g., managing trauma, attachment needs, or school anxiety).
- Speech, language, and communication tools (e.g., PECS, Makaton, or visual timetables).
- Crisis prevention or de-escalation training (e.g., Team Teach, PRICE, or PROACT-SCIPr-UK®).
Full site induction, specialist training, and ongoing professional support will be provided.
What We Offer
- A welcoming, collaborative, and specialised working environment surrounded by therapeutic rural space.
- Excellent opportunities for continuous professional development (CPD), including certified SEND and therapeutic training.
- Small class sizes and higher staff-to-pupil ratios, allowing you to build meaningful connections.
- A deeply rewarding role where you can see the direct impact of your support on a young person’s future.
- Ongoing guidance from an experienced leadership team and on-site therapeutic professionals.
If you want to help young people with ASC overcome barriers, rebuild their confidence, and achieve their full potential in a beautiful specialist setting, we would love to hear from you. Apply today to join our team.