Mental Health & Behaviour Support Assistant Location: Durham Start Date: September 2025 Contract Type: Full-time, Term-time only Rate of pay: £95 - £105 (per day) About the role: We are recruiting a committed and caring Support Assistant to join our inclusive and progressive secondary school in Durham from September 2025. This presents an excellent opportunity to create meaningful impact in young people's lives by supporting their emotional wellbeing and enhancing behaviour and participation throughout the school. Key Responsibilities: Collaborate with teaching personnel, pastoral staff, and leadership teams to assist students with behavioural and emotional requirements Deliver 1:1 and small group sessions designed to encourage positive conduct and emotional strength Support the creation and delivery of personalized behaviour support strategies Manage challenging behaviour situations using de-escalation techniques aligned with school protocols Build trusting relationships with students to promote cooperation and engagement Track and document progress and incidents to assist staff and families in planning additional support Champion a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment for all pupils Personal Specification: Background working with young people, ideally in educational or care environments Strong interpersonal and communication capabilities Calm, patient, and compassionate demeanour Capacity to address behaviour in supportive and positive ways Effective organizational and collaboration skills Knowledge of safeguarding and child protection processes Appropriate qualifications (e.g. CACHE Level 2/3 in Supporting Teaching and Learning, Team Teach, or equivalent) Why Join us? A nurturing and inclusive school community, professional development and training prospects, opportunity to create genuine impact in students' lives, and wellbeing and pastoral support for staff. To Apply: Please submit your CV and brief covering letter explaining your suitability for the position. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interview. All applicants will require the appropriate qualifications and training for this role. Please see the FAQ’s on the Teaching Personnel website for details. All pay rates quoted will be inclusive of 12.07% statutory holiday pay. This advert is for a temporary position. In some cases, the option to make this role permanent may become available at a later date. Teaching Personnel is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. We undertake safeguarding checks on all workers in accordance with DfE statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ this may also include an online search as part of our due diligence on shortlisted applicants. We offer all our registered candidates FREE child protection and prevent duty training. All candidates must undertake or have undertaken a valid enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Full assistance provided. For details of our privacy policy, please visit the Teaching Personnel website.