SEMH Teaching Assistant

Senploy; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

Inspire EHC is seeking a dedicated SEMH Teaching Assistant to support children in Cambridge within the school's Enhanced Resource Base. You will help pupils regulate emotions, adjust transitions, and participate more fully in learning, working alongside teachers and support staff.

The role focuses on nurturing relationships, emotional wellbeing, and learning progress, with DBS checks and references required.

Qualifications

• Experience within an Enhanced Resource Base, specialist provision or SEMH setting.
• Transferable experience from education, youth work, mentoring or related settings.
• Calm and consistent under challenging situations.
• Patient, curious about behaviours and able to build trusting relationships with pupils.

Responsibilities

• Provide tailored support within the Enhanced Resource Base.
• Work individually and in small groups of pupils.
• Help children recognise and manage emotions.
• Use consistent strategies to support positive behaviour.
• Build safe, trusting relationships with pupils.
• Support children through transitions and routines.
• Adapt activities so pupils can access learning.
• Help children develop confidence and independence.
• Deliver targeted interventions.
• Collaborate with teachers and wider support staff.
• Celebrate progress—including small steps that signify achievement for a pupil.

Skills

SEMH experience

Enhanced Resource Base

Behaviour support

Team collaboration

Education

Experience in education settings

Job description

Setting: Primary School | Enhanced Resource Base

A lesson can be carefully planned, the resources can be ready and the classroom can be calm.

But for a child struggling to regulate their emotions, none of that necessarily means they're ready to learn.

Sometimes they need an adult who can recognise what's happening beneath the behaviour.

Someone who knows when to offer reassurance, when to create space, when to adjust an expectation - and how to help them find their way back to learning.

Inspire EHC is working with a friendly and inclusive primary school in Cambridge to recruit a Teaching Assistant for its Enhanced Resource Base.

You’ll support children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs, helping them develop the regulation, confidence and relationships they need to participate more successfully in school.

Behaviour communicates.

A child refusing to enter the classroom, struggling with a transition or becoming overwhelmed by an activity may need something very different from a traditional behaviour-management response.

Your role will be to get to know the individual child and help the wider team understand what enables them to succeed.

You’ll:

• Provide tailored support within the school's Enhanced Resource Base.
• Work individually and with small groups of pupils.
• Help children recognise and manage emotions.
• Use consistent strategies to support positive behaviour.
• Build safe, trusting relationships with pupils.
• Support children through difficult transitions and routines.
• Adapt activities so pupils can access learning successfully.
• Help children gradually develop confidence and independence.
• Deliver targeted interventions where required.
• Work closely with teachers and wider support colleagues.
• Celebrate progress - including the small steps that can represent significant achievements for an individual child.

The ultimate aim isn't simply to get a child through the school day.

It's to help them develop the skills and confidence to participate in more of it for themselves.

We're looking for somebody who understands the balance between being nurturing and continuing to believe in what a child can achieve.

You’ll ideally have experience supporting children with:

Experience within an Enhanced Resource Base, specialist provision or SEMH setting would be particularly valuable, but it isn't the only route into the position.

You could also bring relevant transferable experience from education, youth work, mentoring or another environment supporting children with additional needs.

You’ll need to be:

• Calm and consistent when situations become challenging.
• Patient without becoming passive.
• Curious about what may be driving a child's behaviour.
• Confident building relationships with children who may take time to trust you.
• Flexible enough to change your approach when something isn't working.
• Able to communicate effectively with teachers and support colleagues.
• Committed to both children's emotional wellbeing and their learning.

You won't be expected to do this alone.

You’ll work as part of the school's Enhanced Resource Base alongside teachers and wider support staff, contributing to an individualised approach for each pupil.

That collaboration matters.

When the adults around a child understand their needs and respond consistently, school can gradually become a place that feels safer, more predictable and easier to navigate.

And that progress becomes possible.

Returning to class after becoming overwhelmed.

Managing a transition that was difficult last week.

Asking for help rather than walking away.

Completing an activity independently.

Building a positive relationship with another child.

For pupils with SEMH needs, these moments can be important steps towards accessing education more successfully.

You’ll be one of the people helping those steps happen.

If you're looking for a SEMH Teaching Assistant role in Cambridge where relationships, emotional wellbeing and learning genuinely go hand in hand, Inspire EHC would love to hear from you.

Inspire EHC and its partner school are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Successful applicants will be required to complete an enhanced DBS check and provide satisfactory professional references.

Inspire EHC is an Equal Opportunities Employer and welcomes applications from individuals from all backgrounds.

Please note: visa sponsorship is not available for this position.