Assistant Head Teacher

Position: Assistant Head Teacher (Permanent)
£69,942 - £76,154 + excellent benefits

Please note if we receive a high volume of applications, the advert may close earlier than the stated closing date.

Those Huge Small Victories

Our Assistant Head Teachers are fulfilled by the idea of making even the smallest positive changes in our young people, so we celebrate the little things. There’s lots of ups and downs, and to some of our young people, sitting through a lesson can be a big win. We call these huge small victories and whilst they may seem small on the surface, they add up to make a big difference

Get out what you put in

You’ll be working with primary-aged children who are Autistic. Some have co-morbidities such as ADHD and/or dyslexia. Alongside the Head Teacher, you’ll help set the vision for the future of the school, ensuring we have the right people, curriculum and plans in place so that every child can thrive and leave feeling proud of what they’ve achieved.

This is a hands-on leadership role, with teaching responsibilities across the primary age range. You’ll be a qualified primary teacher with strong curriculum knowledge - particularly in PSHE - and the flexibility to teach across all primary year groups. Your understanding of autism and inclusive practice will be key to creating a calm, supportive environment where pupils feel safe, understood and ready to learn.

You’ll bring previous experience of leading a team, whether as an Assistant Head Teacher or through middle leadership (for example, leading a subject or phase). You’ll be resilient, dedicated and passionate about developing both pupils and staff, knowing that the small wins can make the biggest difference.

It can be a tough journey, but the positive steps forward will more than make up for it. As an Assistant Head Teacher at Witherslack Group, you’ll get all the support you need to succeed, from the broader management team, to a range of supporting specialists. Your colleagues will be the best at what they do, the school environments will be well-resourced and we’ll be with you every step of the way, helping you build a rewarding teaching career.

One of the best environments in SEND

Lavender Lodge school resides within an 18th Century building in the heart of Mitcham. Our pupils come from many different boroughs to attend our school and are lucky to experience ‘a life changing love of learning.’ We are proud of our pupils and our dedicated team and pupils leave us with a sense of achievement. Having joined the Witherslack Group family in 2022, Lavender Lodge School is an independent specialist day school providing high-quality education, based in South London.

The school meets the needs of pupils with a primary diagnosis of autism and additional needs such as ADHD, speech and language difficulties, sensory issues and associated behavioural difficulties. We were recently recognised as Good by Ofsted .

Skill set requirements –

Must have worked with pupils who are autistic and have previous experience of this

Needs to be able to communicate in a variety of ways as 70% of our pupils are non-verbal e.g. can use Makaton, picture display symbols – we use PEC’s and PODD, have experience working with non
-verbal pupils

Have worked with pupils who display challenging behaviour but would have the will and desire to support pupils to manage their behaviour and also for you to work to understand the function of the behaviour

Be flexible to work with pupils from 4 through to 11 years old

Be able to think outside the box in regards to delivering lessons. We have lots of tools to help support this, but our pupils need a bespoke and accessible curriculum

Have an awareness of autism strategies such as TEACCH, attention autism and use of PODD and be able to use these in practise

What we do for you

We know you’re going to do great things. For your hard work and commitment, we reward you with the best salary and benefits package in the education sector. With us, you’ll get to bring learning to life and make a genuine difference to the lives of our young people – plus you’ll get:

Training: A full induction and on the job training

Holiday:
You’ll work hard at WG, so you’ll be rewarded with full school…