SEMH Teacher - Richmond
Full-time, term-time only
September 2026 start, long-term contract to permanent
£194 - £250 PAYE per day, in line with M1 to M6 Outer London (£37,870 - £50,474)
*** Interviews are arranged ASAP ***
Most teachers reach a point where they stop being surprised by the system and start making a decision about it. You can keep adapting to a structure that was not built for the children you care most about. Or you can find a setting where the structure was built around them from the start.
That decision is not a small one. It asks something of you. It means stepping away from the familiar, from a timetable you know, from a school where you have built your reputation, from a career path that looks sensible on paper. But there is another kind of sense. The kind where you go home at the end of the week knowing the work you did mattered to the specific people in front of you, not to a spreadsheet that will be archived in July.
This is a state special school in Richmond. Every pupil holds an EHCP. Every pupil has Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs as their primary area of difficulty. Many have experienced significant trauma, disrupted attachment, and a school system that gave up on them long before they gave up on it. They arrive carrying that history. Your job is not to undo it. Your job is to be consistent, present, and skilled enough that they begin to trust that learning is something available to them.
That is not easy work. It is also not a work you can do halfway. But for the right teacher, it is the most absorbing, honest, and professionally stretching thing you will ever do in a classroom.
The setting
The school operates across two sites, both in the Royal Borough of Richmond Upon Thames, both accessible from across South West London and Surrey. Classes have a maximum of eight pupils. Adult-to-pupil ratios are high, and the physical environment has been designed with the needs of the young people in mind. This is not a mainstream school with a SEND unit attached. It was built to do one thing well.
The curriculum is not delivered to the school. It is built around the individuals in each classroom, their stage of development, their history, and what they can access on any given day. Most KS3 pupils are working at the primary curriculum level. That means your training and your knowledge of how children learn are not a workaround here. They are the point.
Progress in this setting looks different to what you may be used to measuring. A pupil who arrives, stays in the room, and attempts something new is a significant moment. The school understands that, and the way it evaluates teaching reflects it. You will not be judged against metrics designed for a different kind of school.
The culture
Leadership at the school is experienced in SEMH and has built something worth joining. Staff are treated as professionals. Their well-being is taken seriously, not as a policy commitment but as a daily practice. New teachers are properly supported into the role, with time, guidance, and a team around them who understands what the work asks of a person.
The culture here is one where people look out for each other because they understand what the other person is carrying. That is not common in schools. It is something this school has worked to build and continues to protect.
You will be part of a close staff team that works together around each young person. Decisions are made collaboratively. No one is left to manage complexity alone. When something is hard, you say so, and something is done about it.
Your development
This role will ask more of you than most teaching positions. It will also give more back.
Working with young people who have SEMH needs at this level develops a depth of professional skill that is difficult to acquire elsewhere. You will become a more attuned, more regulated, and more reflective practitioner. You will understand behaviour and communication at a level that most teachers never reach. You will learn to read a room, a relationship, and a moment with a precision that transfers to every professional context you ever work in.
The school invests in its staff. Training in trauma-informed practice, relational approaches, and SEMH is built into the role. You will not be expected to arrive knowing everything. You will be expected to stay curious, stay honest, and keep learning.
For a teacher at any stage of their career, this is the kind of role that defines what comes next.
The role
You will teach a KS3 class in a specialist SEMH setting where most pupils are accessing primary-level curriculum content. Your job is to hold the room, adapt constantly, and build the kind of consistency that lets a young person risk learning something new.
Day to day, you will:
- Plan and deliver adapted lessons to a class of up to eight KS3 pupils
- Work closely with a staff team around each young person
- Contribute to EHC Plan reviews and pupil progress discussions
- Support pupils through dysregulation and back into learning
- Help build a consistent environment that lets a young person take a risk on education again
- Develop your own practice through structured training and genuine collegiate support
Who this role suits
Applications are welcome from:
- Primary-trained teachers ready to bring that expertise into a specialist SEMH setting
- Secondary-trained teachers with solid experience delivering the primary curriculum
- Experienced mainstream teachers who have reached the point described in the opening of this advert
- Teachers who want their career to mean something specific, not just something broad
QTS is preferred. It is not essential. What the school needs is someone who understands SEMH, stays regulated under pressure, is honest about what they do not yet know, and is ready to do some of the most demanding and worthwhile teaching of their career.
To apply
Get in touch by responding to this advert, or contact Heeji Moon at Parker Smith Inclusion.
September placements are being confirmed now. The teachers who move first get the best options. If this role is not quite right but the direction is, get in touch anyway. We work exclusively in SEND, and we will find the right fit for where you are now and where you want to go.