ALN Practitioner - Long Term Position

Location: Swansea / Neath Port Talbot SA1

Type: Full-Time | Term Time Only

Start Date: September 2026

Pay Rate: £14.25 per hour PAYE | Weekly Pay

We are recruiting on behalf of a highly regarded primary school in Swansea for a dedicated and compassionate Full-Time Teaching Assistant to join their specialist Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Resource Base from September 2026
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This is a rewarding opportunity to support a small group of pupils with complex communication, learning, and behavioural needs within a nurturing, highly structured environment. Working alongside an experienced specialist team, you will play a vital role in helping learners access education, develop communication skills, build independence, and celebrate every achievement.

The school is recognised for its warm, caring and inclusive ethos, where every child is valued as an individual. Inspectors praised the strong relationships between staff and pupils, the school's family-centred approach, effective support for pupils with ALN, and the excellent progress made by learners within its specialist provision. Staff work collaboratively to ensure every pupil feels safe, supported and able to thrive.

The pupils within the specialist base have a range of complex additional learning needs, including:

• Many learners have significant differences in communication, social interaction and sensory processing. They may:
• Be non-verbal or minimally verbal.
• Communicate using PECS, Makaton, communication boards or AAC devices.
• Prefer routine and predictability.
• Experience anxiety during transitions or unexpected changes.
• Require sensory regulation strategies throughout the day.
• Need support developing social interaction and play skills.
• Some learners present with a PDA profile of autism and may:
• Experience high levels of anxiety when demands are placed upon them.
• Avoid everyday requests using distraction, negotiation, humour or refusal.
• Require indirect language, flexibility and relationship-based approaches.
• Respond positively to low-demand environments and collaborative problem-solving.
• Some pupils may present with behaviours associated with ODD, including:
• Frequent refusal to follow adult direction.
• Emotional outbursts when feeling overwhelmed.
• Difficulty managing frustration.
• Challenging behaviours which communicate unmet needs rather than deliberate defiance.
• A need for consistent boundaries, calm responses and positive relationship-building.
• Learners may:
• Have little or no functional speech.
• Require visual communication systems throughout the day.
• Need additional processing time.
• Benefit from repetitive language, modelling and structured communication opportunities.

• Provide consistent one-to-one and small group support within the specialist base.
• Deliver learning activities adapted to individual communication and developmental needs.
• Support pupils with emotional regulation using agreed strategies.
• Promote communication through visual supports, AAC and alternative communication methods.
• Encourage independence with daily routines and personal development.
• Implement Individual Development Plans (IDPs) alongside teaching staff.
• Record progress and contribute to pupil reviews.
• Build positive relationships with pupils, families and the wider multidisciplinary team.
• Support personal care where required.
• Patient, resilient and emotionally intelligent.
• Calm under press.