Teaching Assistant - Qualified or Unqualified

What skills and experience we're looking for

Balcarras School is looking to appoint an enthusiastic teaching assistant to join our excellent team. You will work in a large team supporting our children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Full training will be given to the right applicant and relevant experience/qualifications to carry out the role will be considered. You will assist in the educational and social development of young people at an important stage in their lives. You must have a caring demeanour, good communication skills, and be able to work flexibly with fellow professionals to support the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs, including students with physical disabilities. Ofsted assessed Balcarras in 2005, 2009, 2014 and 2025 as “Outstanding” in every category.

Staff members at Balcarras School receive priority for admissions for their children for Year 7 entry. If this is something that interests you then please speak to us or view our admissions policy on the Balcarras School website ww.balcarras.gloucs.sch.uk

Application

Further information including a job description can be found in the Applicant Pack on the Balcarras Trust website.

What the school offers its staff

What is it like working at Balcarras?

It is a very exciting and rewarding time to be working at Balcarras. Our latest GCSE grades were extraordinary and put us in the Top 30 comprehensive schools in the country based on the percentage of pupils gaining 5+ in English and Maths. At A-level the picture was similar. We were listed by the Sunday Times as the second highest performing comprehensive school in the Southwest in Parent Power published in November 2023. It is this commitment to the highest academic standards, whilst at the same time being a caring and stimulating environment, that makes Balcarras feel different from anywhere else.

As part of the Balcarras Trust, our teaching staff have access to outstanding professional development networks including NPQs and ECTs if appropriate.

Balcarras is a great place to work, from staff football, staff choir. wreath making sessions to Chinese cookery —Balcarras creates opportunities for staff cohesion. We recently ran a whole Trust staff inset on staff wellbeing that covered topics such as physical well being, mental well being, financial wellbeing and reducing workload . Both staff and pupils benefit from Buddy the school dog who is the one of best appointments ever made!

What is the surrounding area like?

Members of staff moving into the area to join Balcarras have a wide variety of locations from which to choose. There are the large urban areas of Cheltenham and Gloucester together with the many modern housing developments clustered around them, the older market towns such as Cirencester and the smaller villages and hamlets of the Cotswolds. Within a short distance of the school it is possible to find both the facilities of a thriving urban area and the tranquillity of unspoiled countryside.

Balcarras occupies an attractive site at the very edge of Charlton Kings. The woods and fields of the Cotswold escarpment rise up to the east and southeast, while in other directions there is housing surrounding the old village centre.

Commitment to safeguarding

Balcarras School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This role will involve regulated activity with children. We particularly welcome applications from underrepresented groups including ethnicity, gender, transgender, age, disability, sexual orientation or religion. Please also read the Recruitment Selection and Disclosure Policy within “How to apply” which includes our policy on recruiting ex-offenders. All posts are subject to an enhanced DBS check and receipt of two satisfactory references.