Location: Derby
Start Date: ASAP
Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:45am – 3:15pm
Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience
Are you a passionate and caring Teaching Assistant looking for a rewarding full-time role in Derby?
Zest Education is recruiting a Full-Time SEN Teaching Assistant to join a brand-new Resource Base Provision at a mainstream primary school in Derby.
This is an exciting opportunity for a teaching assistant who has experience supporting non-verbal and pre-verbal pupils in an Early Years or Key Stage 1 setting. You’ll be part of a dedicated team helping children with complex communication and developmental needs reach their full potential.
As a full-time SEN teaching assistant, you will work closely with the class teacher in a small class of 11 pupils (9 EYFS and 2 Year 1) who are non-verbal or pre-verbal. The teaching assistant role involves supporting learning through play, communication, and sensory-based activities, helping children develop their social, emotional, and physical skills in a calm and structured environment.
Provide one-to-one and small group support as a teaching assistant for children with special educational needs (SEN).
Use alternative communication strategies such as PECS, Makaton, and visual aids to support understanding and interaction.
Help create a safe, inclusive, and engaging classroom environment.
Support children’s personal care, independence, and daily routines where required.
Work collaboratively with teachers, therapists, and other teaching assistants to deliver tailored learning plans.
Previous experience as a teaching assistant, ideally in an SEN, EYFS, or Key Stage 1 setting.
Understanding of non-verbal and pre-verbal communication and sensory-based learning.
Patience, empathy, and a nurturing approach to supporting young children.
Strong teamwork and communication skills.
A genuine passion for working as a special needs teaching assistant.
Be part of a brand-new, purpose-built resource base in Derby supporting children with additional needs.
Excellent support and training from Zest Education and the school’s leadership team.
Opportunity to develop your career as a teaching assistant in a specialist provision.
Rewarding and meaningful full-time role making a difference every day.
Competitive pay and long-term stability.
If you are a Full-Time SEN Teaching Assistant who loves supporting children with special educational needs, this is the perfect opportunity to join a passionate and forward-thinking school in Derby.
If you are interested in this position or want to find out more, email joanne@zesteducation.co.uk or ‘apply for job’ at the top of the page to submit your details.
Zest Education are an APSCo audited agency and are dedicated to safeguarding children. All candidates must hold an enhanced DBS (or allow us to process one for you) and be registered to the DBS Update Service, be able to provide references to cover the last two years and successfully pass all other necessary safeguarding checks prior to clearance for work.
Salary is dependent on experience, training, or qualifications. The minimum experience, training, or qualifications required for this position are recent school-based experience (within the last 5 years within a school that teaches the British Curriculum) and/or care-based experience within the last 5 years.
The role advertised is for temporary supply work.
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Zest Education – small consultancy friendliness with big agency experience.
With over 50 years’ of dedicated education recruitment experience, we understand everything that you go through on a daily basis when working in schools, nurseries and other provisions.
