SEN teaching assistant supporting statement: what schools score

An SEN teaching assistant supporting statement shows, one line at a time, how you meet the school's person specification for a job that supports children with special educational needs. The National Careers Service gives "Special needs classroom assistant" and "special needs learning support assistant" as other titles for the job, and the three specifications below all call it a learning support assistant. The Teaching Vacancies form and its word limit are in the teaching assistant guide.

What the role is

The National Careers Service says special educational needs teaching assistants "support teachers to help children with disabilities and special educational needs". Its tasks include "adapt teaching support to meet each student's needs", "update records and attend review meetings" and "work closely with teachers and other professionals like speech and language therapists". On entry it says "Each school sets its own entry requirements, though you'll usually need GCSEs grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) in English and maths", and you can apply directly "if you have experience of working with disabled children or children who have learning difficulties".

The terms schools use

Ashwell Primary School's specification asks for "Awareness of the SEND Code of Practice and inclusive education principles" and shortens Education, Health and Care Plans to EHCPs. The SEND code of practice is statutory guidance, and the copy read here is dated January 2015 on its cover. It describes these terms:

Term	What the code says
SEN	"A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her."
SEN support	For a pupil identified as having SEN, schools "should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place". It "should take the form of a four-part cycle": Assess, Plan, Do, Review.
EHC plan	The code writes it in full as Education, Health and Care plan. Its purpose is "to make special educational provision to meet the special educational needs of the child or young person".
SENCO	"The SENCO has day-to-day responsibility for the operation of SEN policy and co-ordination of specific provision made to support individual pupils with SEN, including those who have EHC plans."

The code also says: "Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of the pupils in their class, including where pupils access support from teaching assistants or specialist staff." When you describe your part in an example, say who set the plan and who you reported to.

What SEN teaching assistant person specifications ask for

This guide reads three specifications, as they stood on 3 November 2026: Ashwell Primary School's Learning Support Assistant (with a focus on EHCPs), All Saints Carshalton Church of England Primary School's SEN Learning Support Assistant (job listed 21 November 2022) and Magdalen College School's Learning Support Assistant (SEN) at level 2. Teaching Vacancies shows the All Saints job as expired, and any of the links may stop working.

All Saints says: "Short listing is carried out on the basis of how well you meet the requirements of the person specification." All three make GCSE English and maths at grade C or above essential.

Line	Ashwell	All Saints	Magdalen, level 2
A qualification for the role	Desirable: "Relevant Level 2 or 3 qualification in Supporting Teaching and Learning or equivalent."	Essential: "Minimum Level 3 Teaching Assistant qualification"	Essential: "NVQ level 2 or equivalent in relevant subject", then "or" the experience line below
Experience with children	Essential: "Experience working or volunteering with children in a school or early years setting."	Essential: "Experience of working with or caring for children of relevant age."	No separate line
Experience or training with special needs	Essential: "Evidence of ongoing professional development related to supporting children with SEND." Desirable: "Experience supporting children with additional needs and/or disabilities."	Desirable: "Training relating to children who have special educational needs"	Essential, after "or" under the NVQ line: "Demonstrable experience of working with or caring for children with special needs"
Knowledge of special needs	Essential: "Awareness of the SEND Code of Practice and inclusive education principles."	Essential: "Understanding of working with SEN Children in Education"	Essential, after "and" under the experience line: "Knowledge of special needs"
Confidentiality	Essential: "Discreet and professional in handling confidential information."	Essential: "Understanding of the need to maintain confidentiality on all school matters"	Essential: "Appropriate level of data protection, security and confidentiality awareness"

The schools differ on what is essential. Ashwell's one essential experience line is about children in a school or early years setting, and its experience lines on additional needs, EHCPs and visual supports are desirable. At Magdalen's level 2, the special needs experience line follows the NVQ line after the word "or", so the document offers it as an alternative to the NVQ. Magdalen's level 1 specification makes "Aptitude for working with children with special needs" essential.

Showing SEND experience without naming a child

All three specifications carry a confidentiality line. Describe the need, the strategy and the result in general terms, with no name and nothing that would let someone who knows the school pick out the child.

• The need: say what the child found hard in plain words. Name a condition only to show what you know about it.
• The strategy: name what you used. Ashwell's specification gives names such as "visual supports, social stories, or Positive Behaviour Support Plans" and "Makaton". If the teacher or the SENCO set the strategy up, say so.
• The result: say what changed and how you knew. All Saints' job description asks the assistant to "report to the teacher as agreed" on "pupil's progress/achievement/difficulty", and the code says the effectiveness of support "should be reviewed in line with the agreed date". The result can be what you reported at a review.

If you have not worked in a school, the teaching assistant guide for no experience covers where examples can come from.

The shape of one answer

The criterion below comes from the Ashwell Primary School specification. The three lines are the structure. The lines after "Made up" are invented to show how much one line holds, so replace them with things that happened to you.

Criterion: "Experience supporting children with additional needs and/or disabilities."

• When and where: the setting and the dates. Made up: a Key Stage 1 class, mornings, 2025.
• What you did: one task you handled yourself. Made up: sat beside one pupil who found the start of lessons hard and used a picture timetable the teacher had set up to show the order of the morning.
• What happened: what changed for the child, the class or the teacher. Made up: the pupil began lessons without leaving the room, and the teacher added the timetable to the pupil's support plan.

Before you submit

Check that every essential line has an example, that no child is named and that you are inside the limit the form shows. You can check your draft against the person specification to see which criteria still have no example.