SEND Teaching Assistants & Behaviour Mentors New

That's a big part of the work I'm recruiting for.

I'm looking for Teaching Assistants, Learning Support Assistants, Behaviour & Engagement Mentors and 1:1 support staff to work within specialist SEND and SEMH schools across East Sussex.

These aren't roles where you'll spend every day quietly sitting at the back of a classroom.

You could be helping a pupil access a lesson they've struggled to enter for weeks.

Supporting somebody outside the classroom when things have become overwhelming.

Running a small intervention.

Helping a young person regulate enough to return to learning.

Or simply noticing that today they managed something they couldn't manage last month.

That doesn't mean accepting everything.

Boundaries matter enormously.

But there's a difference between managing behaviour and getting into a battle with a young person.

The people who tend to work well in these environments learn when to challenge, when to redirect, when to give somebody space and when a pupil simply needs an adult to remain calm while they're struggling to do the same.

That's why I'm interested in more than qualifications.

Previous SEND or SEMH experience is obviously valuable, but depending on the vacancy, strong candidates can also come from care, mainstream education, youth work, sports coaching, mentoring, tutoring and other roles supporting young people.

If you've spent time building relationships with teenagers who don't immediately trust adults, for example, that's relevant experience.

Tell me about it.

I recruit across specialist primary and secondary settings around Hastings, Battle, Eastbourne, Hailsham, Seaford, Newhaven, Lewes and the surrounding areas.

And those schools aren't interchangeable.

Somebody can be an excellent support worker and still be in completely the wrong environment.

That's something I understand personally because I worked directly within SEND education before moving into recruitment.

So when we speak, I'm interested in more than whether you're technically available.

What age group suits you?

What behaviours are you experienced with?

Do you enjoy classroom support, or are you stronger working 1:1?

Do you prefer structure, or are you good at adapting on the fly?

Those answers help me decide which conversations with schools are actually worth having.

Oppor