Autism Teaching Assistant
Kingston Upon Thames, South West London
£93 - £98 PAYE per day
Full-time (term time only)
ASAP Start
What does it take to reach a young person who experiences the world entirely differently from you? And what kind of work do you do when the progress is real, but nobody outside the room would ever see it?
If those questions interest you rather than unsettle you, read on.
This is an Ofsted Outstanding specialist school in Kingston upon Thames, supporting children and young people aged 3 to 19 with Autism (ASC), Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD), and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD). Every pupil holds an Education, Health and Care Plan. Class groups are small, staffing ratios are high, and the school operates across several sites in South West London.
The school works within the SCERTS framework, which focuses on Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, and Transactional Supports. What that means in practice is that every adult in the building operates from the same shared understanding of each pupil. How they communicate. What dysregulates them. What they need from the environment and from the people around them to feel safe enough to learn. It is not a tick-box system. It is a way of thinking about children that changes how you see your role entirely.
Alongside classroom staff, a multidisciplinary team works in and around the school every day: speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and creative therapists, including music and dance therapists. The infrastructure exists. The question is whether you are the kind of person who knows how to work within it.
What the role actually involves
Many of the young people you will support communicate without words. Through gesture, symbol, vocalisation, eye gaze, or behaviour. Your job is to understand what they are telling you, even when it is not obvious, and to respond in a way that builds trust rather than breaks it.
Some days, that looks like sensory play or communication work. Others include hydrotherapy, supported independence tasks, or simply sitting with a pupil through something difficult without flinching. The range is wide. The thread running through all of it is the same: your consistency, your ability to read a room, and your willingness to follow a pupil's lead rather than impose your own.
This is a long-term role with a view to a permanent position. The school wants people who stay, who grow, and who become part of the fabric of what makes the place work.
Who this role suits
You do not need to have worked in a school before. You do need to be someone who finds people genuinely interesting, who stays calm when things are hard, and who understands that trust between a young person and an adult is something earned in small moments over a long time.
Backgrounds that translate well into this role:
- Psychology, child development, criminology, or education graduates who want their degree to mean something in practice
- Youth workers, learning mentors, or community support workers are ready for a structured school setting
- Those with experience supporting non-verbal or minimally verbal individuals
- Care assistants or children's residential support workers moving into education
- Anyone with personal experience of SEND, as a sibling, family member, or carer, who understands from the inside what these young people and their families navigate
The school provides structured induction and training, including SCERTS. They will invest in you. What they ask for in return is that you show up, stay curious, and take the work seriously.
Some days are hard. A pupil you have built a relationship with over weeks may have a very difficult morning, and you will not always know why. Progress here is not linear, and it is rarely loud. It tends to show up quietly: a new word, a calmer response, a moment of connection that would mean nothing to someone who wasn't there but means everything to you.
If you need quick wins or visible results to stay motivated, this is probably not the right setting. If you are the kind of person who finds those quiet moments enough, you will find this work has a quality that is difficult to find elsewhere.
If you are interested, apply now or contact Heeji Moon at Parker Smith Inclusion.