Sports Mentor

Crowdys Hill School is a dynamic and expanding special school for pupils in the Swindon area and beyond. We have over 340 pupils on roll, ranging from 4-19 years of age. All our students have moderate or severe learning difficulties and social communication difficulties. Some have autism, ADHD or other more complex needs.

Your role will be to use sport and physical activity as a tool to engage, motivate and mentor pupils at Crowdys Hill School. The Sports Mentor will support pupils’ emotional wellbeing, behaviour and personal development, helping them to build confidence, resilience, teamwork and positive attitudes to learning.

The job description in the application pack will detail your role in full, but briefly, some of the key fields you will be responsible for include:

• Use sport and physical activities to engage pupils and promote positive behaviour and relational practice
• Provide mentoring support to individual pupils and small groups
• Build positive, trusting relationships with pupils to support confidence and self‑esteem
• Support pupils to develop teamwork, communication and leadership skills
• Re‑engage pupils who may be disengaged from learning through structured physical activities
• Support pupils to regulate using agreed strategies and de‑escalation techniques
• Promote healthy lifestyles and positive attitudes towards physical activity
• Support structured break, lunchtime and intervention activities

Our person specification in the application pack contains the full areas of skills and experience we require, but, it is important to us that you feel comfortable and confident in your role, so although you may not have all the skills we are looking for there are some essential features our appointee will need to have, and these include:

• Experience working with children or young people
• Strong interest or background in sport, fitness or physical activity
• Ability to build positive relationships with pupils
• Calm, patient and resilient approach to behaviour management
• Good communication and teamwork skills
• Commitment to safeguarding and inclusion
• Experience working in a special school, alternative provision or SEMH setting
• Understanding of SEND and trauma‑informed practice

What we can offer you in return….

• An excellent supportive staff committed to achieving exceptionally ambitious standards.
• An interesting, diverse, and exciting career.
• Caring, fun pupils that enjoy coming to school to learn.
• A strong CPD programme.
• Opportunities for future professional development.
• Strong ethos and a commitment to collaborative working.
• A sense of achievement at the end of every day.
• After completing a successful probation period of 6 months you will be entitled to join our Health Care Scheme run by Vitality.

Safeguarding Statement

In accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998, jobholders should take reasonable care to ensure that personal data is not disclosed outside Council procedures, or use personal data held on others for their own purposes. In accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, ensure requests for non-personal information are dealt with in accordance with the Council’s written procedures.

To comply with the Asylum and Immigration Act 1998 (as amended by S147 of the Nationality and Immigration and Asylum Act 2002) all prospective employees will be required to supply evidence of eligibility to work in the UK. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Applicants must be fluent in the English language (as a requirement of Part 7 of the immigration act - for the effective performance of a customer-facing role).

Crowdys Hill School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment, all post holders are subject to background checks, an Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure and employment checks.

Online searches will be carried out and references will be called for and checked prior to interview. The right to work in the UK, qualifications and proof of address will be checked at the time of the interview.