Post: Learning Support Assistant (LSA) – PMLD

Location: Kirkby, Merseyside

Hours: 8:30am – 16:00pm (21hrs per week)

POST 3 Days Wednesday, Thursday & Friday

Contract: Term Time – Permanent

Salary: £NMW – £26,247.00 pro rata (depending on qualifications and experience)

Activate is seeking to recruit a Learning Support Assistants (LSA) with experience of supporting individuals with learning difficulties, disabilities, and complex needs. Ideally, candidates will have experience working with young adults aged 19–25 on further education (FE) study programs or have supported individuals in SEN settings within primary or secondary education, or within health and social care environments.

As a Learning Support Assistant, you will play a vital role in encouraging learners to actively participate in their education. You should have experience supporting individuals across a range of ability levels, from pre-entry through to Level 1, adapting your approach to meet diverse learning needs.

We are seeking driven and motivated individuals who are passionate about supporting young people to reach their full potential. and committed to promoting independence. The role includes supporting students with personal care tasks such as feeding, administering medication, changing, and other aspects of daily living. You will be dedicated to working with young people who have learning and/or physical disabilities, assisting them with a variety of further education (FE) both in the classroom and within community settings.

The role requires confident and capable Learning Support Assistants, ideally with at least one year’s experience in further education or social care. A relevant LSA qualification is preferred; however, full training will be provided to work towards a Level 3 LSA Certificate in Special Needs after a successful probationary period.

Activate is a registered charity which was founded in 2005. We deliver personalised educational and vocational programmes for young adults with learning difficulties and disabilities in Knowsley. We have been added to the Section 41 Secretary of State approved providers list.

Our further education programmes for 19–25-year-olds with learning difficulties and or disabilities are entirely person centred. We offer a personalised curriculum for each student on program.

Our aim as an organisation is to provide groundbreaking education programmes which help young people with disabilities to develop skills to build confidence, develop employment skills and encourage independence within the local community.

Due to the nature of work the above post is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and appointment will only be confirmed if a satisfactory Enhanced Disclosure is obtained from the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS). We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and expect all staff to share this commitment.

Full Job Description, Application Form, Diversity Monitoring Form and Privacy Policy can be downloaded from our website https://activateces.org.uk/vacancies/ Completed application to be submitted to jobs@activateces.org.uk before closing date of 18/08/2026. Reference No: LSAJUL26.

JOB DESCRIPTION

JOB TITLE: Learning Support Assistant (PMLD) Contract: Term Time – Permanent Salary: £NMW – £25,740.00 pro rata

JOB LOCATION: Kirkby, Merseyside

All employees must to be flexible in their approach and will be expected to work at other community-based sites.

Reporting to: Assistant Principal-Head of Education

Main purpose of this job

To work as part of a team to support the teaching and learning activities and entitlement of all learners who have severe and complex educational needs.

Support tutors in preparing individual programmes and learning materials appropriate to the needs of the learners and supporting the tutor in the co-ordination and planning of resources and the delivery of learning programmes.

Summary of duties and responsibilities:

1. To support the tutor in the management, planning, delivery and assessment of curriculum programmes for all learners including support to groups and individuals in the delivery of these programmes.

2. To be a key worker for 1 learner or a number of learners in the class/group facilitating the documentation of assessment/progress and maintaining communication information between college/home.

3. To assist the teacher with planning and preparation of resources and programmes including differentiation for the individual needs of learners in the class/group.

4.. To actively support all students in the full range of curriculum activities across the college.

5. To carry out evaluation of progress and electronically record attainment against learners targets.

6. To read, understand and acknowledge, input and implement the following information for the students/groups that you support:

Individual Learning Plans

Behaviour Support Plan

Care Plan

Short and medium term planning for the class/tutor group

Initial assessments

7. To support the personal care of all learners, including intimate personal care in some instances, administration of meds and feeding.

8. To work with students with autism, multi-sensory impairments, physical disabilities, mild, moderate and severe learning difficulties and those with non-verbal communication needs to enhance their communication skills, social skills, ability to think flexibly and to problem-solve.

9. To respond to and manage students challenging behaviour, this may include directly implementing agreed physical interventions and/or supporting work colleagues as necessary.

10. To work collaboratively with a range of support services and departments to:

implement therapy programmes as required

professional liaison between education / college and home to ensure consistent management and support of individual learners

attend multi-disciplinary meetings around the learner

11. To be familiar with and work to the organisation’s Behaviour Policy and Procedures.

12. To attend training on Behaviour Management and any other training required to ensure good discipline and to safeguard the safety and well-being of yourself, other staff and students who may have challenging behaviour.

13. To work collaboratively with parents/carers to ensure a consistent approach to the delivery of programmes including; behaviour management, communication, shared targets etc.

14. To take individual and corporate responsibility for ensuring the health and safety of all students and colleagues at all times and to report any health and safety concerns to the line manager or to the Health and Safety representative in your department.

This job description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The post holder will be required to undertake other activities related to achieving the organisations objectives, as determined by the Manager. This job description may be reviewed when necessary in line with the development of the organisation.

All staff must be flexible to attend open days/open evenings and some occasional weekends at various times throughout the year in addition to their ‘normal’ working hours.

LSA Person Specification

	Essential	Desirable
Qualifications
Teaching Assistant Diploma/equivalent or commitment tocomplete this qualification		×
Specialist qualification		X
Knowledge
Knowledge of working in a SEN environment		X
Knowledge of risk assessing and incident reporting		X
Knowledge of communication strategies for non-Verbal learners	X
Skills and Abilities
ICT/Database skills	X
Motivated and inspired by young people	X
Excellent administration and organisational skills	X
Excellent time management	X
Experience / awareness of Person Centred Thinking and itsapplication to support learners	X
Ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team	X
Able to listen and act on instructions	×
Ability to prioritise and organise day to day workload	X
Ability to contribute, follow and evaluate educationalprogrammes set by the tutor	X
Ability and commitment to work as part of a supportive andcohesive team	X
Experience
Working with young people with LDD	X
Working with young people with challenging behaviour	X
1 years LSA experience or working with young people withdisabilities	X
Personal Qualities
Ability to remain calm under pressure to create a stable andsupportive learning environment for students.	X
Good time keeping	×
Flexible approach to work	X
Physical and Mental requirements
Regular requirements to move and handle service users, whohave a range of physical abilities, in a variety of settings	×
The ability to meet the physical demands of the post whichrequires substantial walking, standing, lifting, bending, workingon the floor, twisting and pushing wheelchair users around thecollege and within the community	X
Regular requirement to support service users with challengingbehaviour	X

In addition to the specific criteria laid out above, each applicant will be expected to demonstrate a basic understanding of the principles of equal opportunities, safeguarding and autism awareness in relation to the post.