SEMH TA

Lift Firth Park, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S5 0SD

14 days remaining to apply

• Start date details

  ASAP

• Closing date

  5 October 2026 at 8:52am

• Date listed

  21 September 2026

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Job details

• Job role:
  • Teaching assistant
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full time equivalent salary: £26558 - £27440 per annum

SEMH TA job summary

At Lift Firth Park, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to succeed, regardless of the challenges they face. We're looking for a compassionate, resilient and skilled SEMH Teaching Assistant to join our onsite Alternative Provision, supporting pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs.

This is far more than a classroom support role. You'll work alongside teachers to help pupils overcome barriers to learning, build confidence, regulate emotions and experience success both academically and personally. Are you passionate about helping young people thrive and want to be part of a team committed to transforming lives through education? If so, we'd love to hear from you.

About the role

Every interaction you have can change the trajectory of a young person's future. By providing consistency, encouragement and high-quality support, you'll help students develop the confidence, resilience and skills they need to re-engage with learning and achieve their potential.
At Lift Firth Park, every role contributes to our mission of delivering an excellent education, in every classroom, every day.

You'll play a varied and rewarding role, including:

• Lead targeted 1:1 and small group interventions to support emotional regulation, resilience, behaviour for learning and academic progress, particularly for pupils with SEND and SEMH needs.
• Work closely with teachers to plan learning, assess progress, provide feedback and adapt support to meet individual student needs.
• Build positive, trusting relationships with pupils, acting as a mentor and key adult to promote confidence, independence, wellbeing and positive behaviour.
• Support the development of an inclusive Alternative Provision by creating safe, engaging learning environments where every student can succeed.
• Work collaboratively with teachers, pastoral teams, SEND staff and families to support student progress and strengthen home-school partnerships.

What we're looking for

• Experienced in supporting children or young people, particularly those with SEMH, SEND or additional learning needs.Confident leading learning, delivering interventions and covering lessons independently.
• Skilled at building positive relationships and using restorative, trauma-informed approaches to support behaviour and wellbeing.
• An excellent communicator who works collaboratively with colleagues, families and external professionals.
• Organised, adaptable and able to remain calm, resilient and solution-focused in a fast-paced environment.
• Committed to helping every child achieve their potential through high expectations, compassion and consistency.
• Qualified to HLTA standard - minimum of Level 3 (or able to demonstrate equivalent experience), with strong literacy and numeracy skills.
• For those candidates with demonstrable experience but that do not hold the relevant qualifications for HLTA you will be enrolled onto our Level 3 apprenticeship programme.
• UK right to work, this role is not available for sponsorship.

Why Lift Firth Park?
Lift Firth Park is a vibrant, mixed secondary school for students aged 11-16. Located in Shiregreen, Sheffield, we serve around 1,200 pupils and reflect a richly diverse community, with more than a third of students speaking English as an additional language.
The school is currently in an exciting period of new leadership and transformational change, and we are already seeing the positive impact, in the classroom, across the curriculum and throughout our culture. This is an excellent time to join our team. We are looking for individuals who share our dedication to inclusive, aspirational education and who are excited to contribute to our renewed vision and ambitious future.

Who is Lift Schools?

Lift Schools is made up of 62 primary, secondary and special schools, educating more than 35,000 pupils across the country. We believe education can transform lives - and we want every child in our schools to achieve their full potential.

How we support you

We want you to feel supported, valued and able to grow throughout your career with Lift Schools. From high-quality professional development and career progression to wellbeing support and opportunities to connect and collaborate across our network, we invest in you so you can do your best work.

Further information about the job

The candidate will be required to undergo a full enhanced DBS check and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

Commitment to safeguarding

Lift Schools are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our pupils, and we expect all our people and volunteers to share this commitment. We adopt a fair and consistent recruitment process which is inline with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. This includes online checks for shortlisted candidates. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, references, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check.

Applying for the job

This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.

CVs will not be accepted for this application.

About Lift Firth Park

• Organisation type: Academy, ages 11 to 16
• Education phase: Secondary school
• Size: 1115 pupils enrolled
• Age range: 11 to 16
• Ofsted report: View Ofsted report
• Website: Lift Firth Park website
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/firth-park-academy

Lift Firth Park is a school with a strong team spirit, high expectations and driving ambition which have led to notable improvements. We are a fully inclusive school with a distinctively inclusive ethos and have the highest aspirations for and expectations of our students.

We continue to work tirelessly to ensure our examination results continue to improve, that students continue to feel happy, safe and cared for, one of our key aims is that everybody deserves the chance to fly; and that the students are challenged and developed academically by the stimulating and rewarding education they receive.

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