Level 2 Teaching Assistant

Unsworth Academy; Bury St Edmunds; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 24,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Local Government Pension Scheme

Teachers Pension

Generous holiday entitlement 37 days,

Free DiscountForTeachers

Free Eye Tests

Cycle to work scheme

Job summary

Unsworth Academy is seeking highly motivated Teaching Assistants to join our team. The main purpose is to support and assist teaching staff within the classroom, encouraging and motivating students under the guidance of the Class Teacher.

As part of a Trust-wide initiative, you will contribute to our ambitious development plan and the drive to raise standards. We offer a supportive working environment with strong professional development and opportunities to grow within the Shaw Education Trust.

Qualifications

• Experience assisting teaching staff in a classroom setting.
• Ability to encourage and motivate students under guidance.
• Willingness to contribute to school improvement and development.

Responsibilities

• Support teaching staff in the classroom to deliver lessons.
• Assist pupils with learning activities, behaviour, and focus.
• Contribute to an inclusive, safe, and positive learning environment.

Skills

Classroom support

Student motivation

Team collaboration

Job description

Unsworth Academy are now looking to recruit highly motivated Teaching Assistants to join their team.

The main purpose of the role is support and assist our teaching staff within the classroom. You will help to encourage and motivate our students under the guidance of the Class Teacher.

Unsworth Academy is a thriving, oversubscribed, co-educational and non- selective Bury high school. The school is on an incredibly exciting journey of school improvement. Our latest Ofsted report, in April 2025 was glowing and indictive of an outstanding judgement were it to have been a graded inspection.

A new three-year development plan titled ‘Exemplary Unsworth 2028 was launched in September 2025. It will guide our journey to an even more sophisticated level of provision for the wonderful community of Unsworth.

At Unsworth Academy, our vision is to drive both the academic and character development of learners, so they can positively shape the society and communities they inhabit. We are unapologetically ambitious, fostering a culture built on individual ownership, holistic development and community strength.

AtShaw Education Trust, we believe every role has the power to transform a life.Whether you’re supporting behind the scenes, inspiring in the classroom, orleading with vision, you will be part of something truly meaningful.

Ourvalues— opportunity, integrity, community, and equity —guide everything wedo. Our vision is “Opening doors to the world through the power oflearning.” We bring this to life through our mission: workingtogether to inspire communities where every school is valued, every voicematters, and every learner thrives.

Weare a dynamic and growing family of primary, secondary, and special schools,proudly serving communities from Birmingham to Bury.

Ourpeople are our greatest asset, and we are deeply committed to their developmentthrough high-quality training, apprenticeships, talent development programmes,and research opportunities, we empower our staff to thrive as skilled,confident professionals. We champion wellbeing, value every voice, and foster aculture where you feel supported, motivated, and inspired to make a realdifference.

Youwill join a collaborative network of schools where shared expertise and astrong professional community drive success. Every academy within our Trust hasan equal voice, and every colleague plays a vital role in shaping tailoredlearning experiences that raise aspirations and build brighter futures.

Ifyou have the passion, dedication, and drive to help shape lives and createfutures filled with promise, we would love you to join our team.

Together,let’s make the remarkable happen.

Webelieve every child has the potential to be extraordinary.

Inour secondary schools, we pride ourselves on our innovative approach tocurriculum design, to ensure all our schools have breadth and ambition for allstudents, regardless of their starting points and barriers. Standard curriculummodels don’t always engage all students, so we constantly seek to innovate andprovide better opportunities to develop both knowledge and skills for life. Wewant our students to believe their curriculum is bold, exciting, purposeful,and ultimately leads to something meaningful for them. Some examples of ourinnovation include moving towards a trust wide approach to enrichment andcompetitions, to provide a world class enrichment programme and more opportunitiesfor essential skills like reading and cultural capital. We are also introducingvocational and technical pathways, which run through the normal schoolcurriculum but attract support from leading employers and universities todevelops work-readiness in our students, so that they can progress onto TLevels and apprenticeships.

Weare currently at an exciting point in their evolution, with collaboration atthe heart of our collective endeavour. We don’t operate in silos: we value thepower of the pack and strive to collaborate as a collective, ensuring no schoolor colleague is left behind. We are currently co-constructing an alignedcurriculum across all EBacc curriculum subjects, to create a world classcurriculum, rich in powerful knowledge and skills. This is driving up standardsthrough the sharing of the very best practice, whilst allowing each schoolsufficient flexibility for autonomy to do what is right for their localcontext. A by-product of this approach has been the reduction in planningworkload for colleagues, meaning they can spend more time on the things thatmatter and fostering strong relationships with pupils and delivery of thecurriculum.

Asa group of schools, we take an evidence-informed approach to developing thequality of our teaching and learning, learning from research and best practicein the sector. We value a non-hierarchical, supportive approach to developinggreat teachers. As a people-focused trust, we consider the professionaldevelopment of our staff as a fundamental responsibility. Where any schoolsface any barrier, it has the mutual support of the others in sector to callupon for subject specific or general support, all facilitated by a group ofservant leaders at trust level. Our Heads meet regularly and genuinely supporteach other in a non-competitive environment. We have team of directors withvast experience at headship, senior and middle leadership levels and our teamof subject directors are supporting subject staff across the trust to designand deliver the very best curricula, providing subject specific pedagogicalsupport.

Oursecondary schools are currently driving ‘PedTech’ across the sector: we believeteaching and technology should go hand-in-glove and are passionately committedtowards providing a fully digitally enhanced curriculum. We are very close toachieving full 1:1 device delivery and are sprinting towards better use ofiPads in lessons to enhance the experience and learning.

ShawEducation Trust offer the following employee benefits with your Teaching orSupport Staff employment:

• An excellent Local Government Pension Scheme (SupportStaff) / Teachers Pension (Teaching Staff)
• Support Staff only based on working full time,all year - Generous holiday entitlement from your first day ofemployment (37 days holiday rising to 39 days after 5 years’service including Bank Holidays)
• Access to Medicash Health & Wellbeing Plan: Enjoyhealth services designed to support your well-being.
• Free DiscountForTeachers Scheme for all staff (Supportand Teaching), Exclusive discounts to save money with a wide selection ofdiscounts and exclusive offers from hundreds of the biggest brands.
• Free Eye Tests
• Cycle to work scheme
• Access to our Institute ofEducation and fantastic opportunities to help you grow, contribute andflourish in your role and in the Trust.

Weknow our people are the key to our success and so we’re committed toensuring the employment experience at Shaw Education Trust is a rewardingone.

Colleagueswithin the Trust benefit from: Access to a full range of courses both in-house andprofessionally accredited. These courses include a variety of the NationalProfessional Qualifications and the Early Carer Teacher Programme delivered byShaw Education Trust as a delivery partner for Ambition Institute.

• Experiencedleadership and subject-specific support.
• Guidancefrom former HMIs and serving Ofsted Inspectors within the Trust.
• Accessto the Trust’s Institute of Education and SCITT.
• Opportunitiesto work with different schools within the Trust as a Professional Advocate.
• Participatingin peer reviews.
• Accessto a suite of online courses.
• Placementprojects within our family of schools.

Actual Salary: £22,677.58 - £23,401.05

Working hours: 37 hours per week, 8.00am – 4.00pm, 38 weeks Term Time Only, plus 1 week (39 weeks per year total)

Interview – Friday 6th November 2026