Teaching Assistant

Woodhey High School; Bury St Edmunds; On-site; GBP 19,000 - 20,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

Medicash Health & Wellbeing Plan

DiscountForTeachers scheme

Free Eye Tests

Cycle to work scheme

Job summary

Woodhey High School is seeking a caring Teaching Assistant to support students in lessons and help remove learning barriers. You will work with teachers to foster an engaging, inclusive classroom and contribute to students' academic and personal growth.

The role focuses on building confidence, encouraging independence and ensuring each student can thrive in a supportive environment. Training and staff welfare are highlighted as part of our commitment to staff development.

Responsibilities

• Support students in the classroom and help remove barriers to learning.
• Work closely with teachers to create an engaging and inclusive environment.
• Build confidence, encourage independence and help young people succeed academically and personally.

Skills

Supporting students

Job description

An exciting opportunity has become available for a teaching assistant to join our wonderful team at Woodhey!

Make a difference every day. As a Teaching Assistant, you’ll support students in the classroom, help remove barriers to learning, and work closely with teachers to create an engaging and inclusive environment. You’ll play a vital role in building confidence, encouraging independence, and helping young people succeed both academically and personally. If you’re passionate about supporting students and want a career where no two days are the same, we’d love to hear from you.

Be part of #TeamWoodhey - the school that has been transformed! Where students show exceptional engagement in lessons, the school is underpinned by strong, supportive relationships, staff feel well-supported, and our values of Respect and Excellence driving everything we do. There has never been a better time to join us.

Our remarkable progress has been recognised, being graded Outstanding for Behaviour and Attitudes and Personal Development (2025) is testament to this. We're unbelievably proud of these achievements, but we never stop striving for more - ensuring every student achieves the absolute best academic outcomes and is exceptionally well prepared for life beyond school - progression, not perfection, as we like to say!

We equip our staff to flourish through a comprehensive training programme, a supportive welfare package, and access to the latest technology, including a personal iPad. Combined with our incredible students, this makes Woodhey High School an inspiring and rewarding place to work.

Are you the missing piece in our jigsaw? The person to take us to the next level? If so, there really is no better time to join us! But don't take our word for it, come and visit us! We cannot wait to welcome you.

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.

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 to ensuring 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: £18,705-£19,000

Working hours: 31 hours per week, term time only plus 5 days INSET