SEN Teacher (SEMH) – Full-Time, Term-Time Only – September 2026 – Richmond, South West London
£37,870 – £50,474 per annum (M1 to M6, Outer London). PAYE only.
Interviews are arranged as applications are received.
Most teachers can name the pupils who stayed with them. Not the ones who thrived. The ones who did not, and who you understood well enough to know why, and who you think about still, because the setting around them was never really built for who they were.
This role is for teachers who think that way.
A special school in the Royal Borough of Richmond is seeking a teacher to join its KS3 team from September 2026. The school works with pupils aged 7 to 19, all of whom hold an Education, Health and Care Plan. Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs are the primary area of difficulty across the school. Many KS3 pupils are working within the primary curriculum. The school operates across two sites, in Hampton and Twickenham, both accessible from across South West London and Surrey.
This is not a school built around subject specialism. It is built around knowing each young person well enough to meet them where they are. Classes have a maximum of eight pupils. Adult-to-pupil ratios are high. Staff work closely together around each young person, and the curriculum is adapted to individual need and stage of development rather than year group or attainment target. Leadership is experienced in SEMH and well-regarded by the staff and families around them. The school's culture is one where people genuinely look out for each other.
The role involves planning and delivering adapted lessons to a KS3 class, contributing to EHCP reviews, supporting pupils through periods of dysregulation and back into learning, and building the kind of consistent, trusting relationships that make everything else possible. Some days will look like teaching. Some days it will look like something quieter and harder to name. Both matter equally here.
The school is particularly interested in teachers who bring knowledge of the primary curriculum and the ability to deliver it without condescension to older pupils who need it. That knowledge matters more than a specialist subject background.
If you are an ECT, this role is worth considering carefully. Starting your career in a setting with small classes, experienced SEMH leadership, and a team built around genuine collaboration gives you a foundation that mainstream settings rarely offer. You will learn to read a room, earn trust from young people who have real reasons to withhold it, and teach in a way that responds to the person in front of you rather than the lesson plan behind you. That shapes the kind of teacher you become.
If you are already teaching and carry SEMH or Autism experience from a mainstream setting, you will find that what you have been doing in the margins here becomes the centre of the work. The school will support your transition into specialist education from day one.
QTS is preferred but not essential. Applications are welcome from primary-trained teachers, secondary-trained teachers with solid primary curriculum experience, ECTs, and teachers currently working in mainstream who are ready for a setting designed around the pupils who need it most.
To find out more or apply, contact Heeji Moon at Parker Smith Inclusion on 0203 011 4848 or visit psinclusion.co.uk.
Parker Smith Inclusion is a specialist SEND recruitment consultancy. We work exclusively in SEND, placing teachers and support staff in specialist settings across London, Essex, and Surrey. All roles are long-term to permanent. We operate on a PAYE-only basis, with no umbrella companies and no hidden costs. Over 400 five-star Google reviews from educators we have supported.