Learning Support Mentor
The Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 4EQThis job expired on 21 July 2025 – see similar jobs
Start date details
September 2025
Closing date
21 July 2025 at 9am
Date listed
9 July 2025
Job details
Job role
- Teaching assistant
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Subjects
- Special Education Needs (SEN), Learning Mentor
Working pattern
- Full time, part time
Contract type
- Fixed term
Full-time equivalent salary
- £18,730.00 - £19,027.00 Annually (Actual) Grade 5, Point 5 - 6: £18,730 - £19,027 per annum (subject to experience)
Learning Support Mentor job summary
Salary: Grade 5, Point 5 - 6: £18,730 - £19,027 per annum (subject to experience)
Contract: Fixed Term until July 2026, 32.5 hours per week, 39 weeks per year (term time plus inset days)
We are looking to appoint an exceptional and compassionate individual with experience supporting children in an educational setting. As a Learning Support Mentor, you will work closely with a named or small group of students, developing tailored mentoring strategies to help them set and achieve personal goals. Your role will involve supporting their access to learning through appropriate interventions and resources, and providing regular feedback on their progress. You will also be expected to serve as a positive role model, inspiring and encouraging the student’s personal and academic development.
The ideal candidate will:
- Demonstrate strong problem-solving and creative thinking skills
- Possess sound knowledge of the Foundation and National Curriculum
- Show genuine empathy and understanding toward students’ individual needs
- Be confident in leading small group interventions, particularly for students with high levels of need and those on the SEN register
- Have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work collaboratively with colleagues, parents, and external professionals
- Be a committed team player, willing to go the extra mile to support students and embrace the challenges and rewards of this role
To find out more about the benefits of working for SAST, click here
For more information about our school, please click the view our careers page on the right hand side.
We warmly welcome visits to the School. If you would like to arrange a tour, please contact Caroline Rabbetts, Office Manager, at caroline.rabbetts@gryphon.dorset.sch.uk or by phone at 01935 810101, who will be happy to assist you.
SAST will conduct online searches of shortlisted candidates. In line with KCSIE guidance, this will be part of safer recruitment checks, and the search will purely be based on whether an individual is suitable to work with children. As care must be taken to avoid unconscious bias and any risk of discrimination, a person who will not be on the appointment panel will conduct the searches and will only share information if and when findings are relevant and of concern.
Safeguarding responsibilities associated with this role may include engagement in regulatory activity, such as administering first aid or supporting an upset child. It will have contact with young people on a day-to-day basis. SAST is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will have to meet the person specification and the post is subject to safeguarding checks, including an enhanced DBS check and Children’s Barred List check. The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020.
SAST recognises the benefit of having a diverse workforce and is committed to building a workforce which reflects diversity from the communities it serves. SAST values the contributions from all staff from a wide range of different backgrounds and actively seeks to promote an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment and at the same time supports fair promotion and cultural acceptance. Under the provision of the Equality Act 2010 SAST welcomes applications from everyone and operates a recruitment process which is fair and does not discriminate against or disadvantage anyone because of their age, disability, gender reassignment status, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race or nationality, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.
This role is UK- based and your right to work will need to be established as part of the appointment process.
Further information about the job
Commitment to safeguarding
Safeguarding responsibilities associated with this role may include engagement in regulatory activity, such as administering first aid or supporting an upset child. It will have contact with young people on a day-to-day basis. SAST is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The post is subject to safeguarding checks, including an enhanced DBS check and Children’s Barred List check. The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020.
About The Gryphon School
- School type
- Academy, Church of England, ages 11 to 18
- Education phase
- Secondary
- School size
- 1555 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 18
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- The Gryphon School website
The Gryphon is a wonderful place to work and has a special atmosphere and feel. It became a founder member of SAST a multi-academy trust established in June 2017. The Good Schools Guide 2023 concludes that ‘A big school with a small school feel is exactly right. No child goes unnoticed and teachers seem to be genuinely motivated to see pupils progress to the best of their ability. An impressive capacity to cater for extremely different academic needs in a nurturing environment. No wonder it’s over-subscribed’.
We are an outward looking school with exceptional community links as well as strong relationships with other good and outstanding schools across the South West and nationally.
We are a comprehensive school serving a diverse community. Our high quality support staff make a real difference to our students. Teaching is often outstanding, and consistently at least good across all subjects and key stages. Teachers are provided with the resources to make lessons stimulating and practical and have excellent subject knowledge. They make sure students are very clear about what is demanded of them and how to improve. The School’s very positive entry in the Good School Guide describes pastoral care and discipline as ‘excellent’. Students are reflective, behave with great courtesy, and are heavily involved in working with staff to improve the school and the welfare of others.
The Gryphon gains high results for its students at both GCSE and A Level. Our large Sixth Form of 380 students is exceptional. We have an outstanding record of success in university entrance, including places at Oxford, Cambridge and other Russell Group universities, as well as for training places and apprenticeships.
Our 2023 GCSE exam results were, once again, excellent. 26 students achieved nine or more 7s, 8s and 9s with many staying on to attend The Gryphon Sixth Form.
Additionally, our A level results were excellent with 61 students receiving straight A, A* and B results including five students heading off to Oxford and Cambridge, and three students going on to study medicine.
In May 2022 our inspection as a Church School (SIAMS) judged us to be Excellent. Our most recent Ofsted visit, in June 2023, was very positive and confirmed our status as a “good school”. Our focus, which reflects our Church School status, is that we should be a “10:10” school; where students and staff experience life in all of its fullness. So for us education is more than just exam results – we place great value on the personal development of each student. We aim for them to leave school as well-rounded young people with a strong sense of what is socially, morally and culturally acceptable, and to feel that they have a contribution to make to the wider community. Digital learning is important at The Gryphon School including the use of mobile technology; we want our young people to use technology responsibly and to enhance their learning.
In summary, we are a true team with a great sense of pride in what we collectively achieve and we embrace the challenge for achievement to be even higher. Our special culture and ethos focuses on enabling students to be the best that they can, both personally and academically, supported by the tremendous work and care of all our staff. We continue to strive to be outstanding in all aspects of school life.
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