SEMH Teaching Assistant - Immediate Start - Richmond
Richmond, South West London | £100 - £110 PAYE per day, paid weekly | Full-time | Immediate Start, long-term leading to permanent
Interviews are arranged ASAP - early applications are strongly recommended
When a young person’s anxiety spills over, are you the adult who stays calm and moves closer?
If that sounds like you, this SEMH Teaching Assistant role in Richmond needs your experience. You will join a specialist secondary school for young people with social, emotional and mental health needs. Some students also have ASC or ADHD.
Your SEMH Experience Has a Place Here
You may have learned your skills in a mainstream school, a special school or a residential children’s home. You may have worked in a mental health hospital, a youth custody or a secure unit. Each of those settings teaches you to read a room, notice the first signs of distress and keep your voice level when a young person loses theirs.
Those skills are hard to teach. This school wants them, and it will train you to build on them.
About the School and the Students
Most students arrive here after mainstream education could not meet their needs. Many carry high anxiety, low self-esteem or the effects of difficult past experiences. Some will test a new adult early, to find out whether that adult comes back the next day.
The school works in a trauma-informed way. Staff look at what a behaviour is communicating before deciding how to respond. Every adult in the school receives training in this approach, so you will work alongside colleagues who respond the same way you do.
The school is commutable from Teddington, Feltham and Walton-on-Thames.
What You Will Do as an SEMH Teaching Assistant
- Support secondary students with SEMH needs in lessons, small groups and unstructured times
- Build consistent, trusting relationships with the same young people each day
- Spot rising anxiety or frustration early and use calm de-escalation
- Help a student return to learning after a difficult moment, with no grudge carried into the next lesson
- Record what you observe and share it with the teachers and the pastoral team
About You
- A genuine interest in young people’s mental health and SEMH needs
- Experience supporting young people with SEMH needs, trauma or behaviour that challenges (essential)
- Confidence using de-escalation and staying calm under pressure
- Openness to trauma-informed training and reflective feedback
- Right to work in the UK and an enhanced DBS, or willingness to apply with support from Parker Smith Inclusion
Experience from schools, residential care, mental health hospitals, prisons or youth custody all count. Youth workers, mentors, sports coaches and support workers who have worked with young people with complex needs are also welcome to apply.
Where This Role Can Take You
Trauma-informed practice is a recognised specialism. A year in this school gives you strong, relevant experience for Teaching, Counselling, Social Work, Assistant Psychologist posts or Educational Psychology training. You will also have access to free CPD through Parker Smith Inclusion, alongside the school’s own training.
Why Parker Smith Inclusion
Parker Smith Inclusion is an ethical SEND specialist consultancy. We focus on long-term and permanent roles. Over 400 educators have left five-star Google reviews.
Interested? Apply now or contact Heeji Moon at Parker Smith Inclusion.