Teaching Assistant / Learning Mentor
Harbour School Dorset, BH20 6NU17 days remaining to apply
Start date details
As soon as possible
Closing date
15 March 2026 at 11:59pm
Date listed
26 February 2026
Job details
Job role
- Teaching assistant
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Key stage
- Key stage 2, Key stage 3, Key stage 4, Key stage 5
Working pattern
- Full time, part time: 34.5 hours per week, 8.30am-4pm Monday – Thursday, 8.30am-1pm Friday
Contract type
- Permanent
Full-time equivalent salary
- £26,403-£28,142
Actual salary
- £21,068-£22,456
What skills and experience we're looking for
Teaching Assistant (Learning Mentor), Harbour School Dorset
£26,403-£28,142 full time equivalent; actual salary £21,068-£22,456 for 34.5 hours per week (Friday afternoons off), and term time only working. Plus, generous sick pay and pension scheme.
Hours: 8.30am-4pm Monday – Thursday, 8.30am-1pm Friday
Every day won’t be easy. Every day will matter.
At Harbour School Dorset, we support young people with significant Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) and Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC)needs. Many have struggled in mainstream settings. Some have lost trust in adults. Some will push you away before they let you in.
You know what a Teaching Assistant role is – this is not that role. We’ll be honest. This role takes patience, resilience, emotional strength and consistency. Progress can be slow. Building trust can take months. Some days will feel like two steps back.
And then, one day…
A student who wouldn’t enter the classroom sits beside you. A young person who never spoke says your name. A student who didn’t trust adults asks for help.
Those moments are everything.
The role
As a Learning Mentor, you’ll help students feel safe, regulate emotions, rebuild confidence and reconnect with learning. This is not a traditional classroom support role. Some days you’ll be sitting on the floor for hours beside a distressed student, taking a walk, being shouted at - or celebrating something as small (and as huge) as a student writing their name.
Academic progress matters - but connection comes first.
“The learning mentors encourage me to express myself in a constructive and useful way. They make me feel safe and valued, help me work through my emotions, and ensure I do not feel judged for how I am feeling”
This is the difference you’ll make.
Who we’re looking for
You will thrive in this role if you are:
- Calm under pressure; emotionally resilient and reflective
- Able to stay consistent even when rejected
- Patient and non-judgemental
- Comfortable with slow progress and small steps
- Motivated by impact rather than quick wins
Experience with young people, SEMH, ASC or trauma-informed work is helpful - but attitude, resilience and emotional intelligence are also so valuable.
What the school offers its staff
What we can offer
- A skilled, compassionate, genuinely supportive team who reflect together, and understand the emotional weight of the work.
- Friday afternoons off
- Strong induction and ongoing training
- Career progression within Southern Education Trust
- A school that celebrates progress, not just academic data
- A role where the impact is real, human and lasting
The truth
This job can be emotionally demanding.
You will be tested.
You will be rejected before you are trusted.
But if you stay - if you show up consistently - you will change lives. And once a student finally lets you in, the breakthrough is bigger than any exam result.
If you believe in second chances, value relationships over quick results, and want work that truly matters, we would love to hear from you.
Further information about the job
Closing date: 15th March 2026
Interview date: Wc 23rd March 2026
(Click apply to be taken to our website, where links to the below documents can be found. Alternatively, contact us to request an application pack.)
Please complete our Support Staff Application Form and return it to recruitment@deltaeducationtrust.com if you would like to apply. See our Learning Mentor Job Description for further details on the role and our Safeguarding Policy.
Commitment to safeguarding
Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, volunteers and trustees to share this commitment.
Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.
Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
childcare disqualification
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
medical
online and social media
prohibition from teaching
right to work
satisfactory references
suitability to work with children
You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.
Applying for the job
Apply for the job by following the link below.
CVs will not be accepted for this application.
View advert on school website (opens in new tab)Additional documents
If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.
About Harbour School Dorset
- School type
- Free School, ages 10 to 19
- School size
- 140 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 10 to 19
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- Harbour School Dorset website
- Email address
- recruitment@southern.education
Arranging a visit to Harbour School Dorset
To arrange a visit and increase the chance of a successful application email recruitment@southern.education.
School location
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