Salary: Grade 5 SCP 16-20 £25,989-£27,254 FTE Pay Award Pending
Actual Salary: £19,898- £20,866
Working hours: 32.5 per week, term time only plus 5 days INSET
Contract type: Fixed term 12 months
Start date: Tuesday 1st September 2026 -31st August 2027
We are seeking a dedicated and compassionate Careers Advisor to join our SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health) school team. This is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of young people by supporting them to identify their strengths, build confidence, and prepare for positive futures in education, employment, and training.
Working closely with students, staff, families, and external agencies, you will provide tailored careers guidance that recognises the individual barriers and challenges our learners may face.
Key Responsibilities
- Deliver high-quality, impartial careers information, advice, and guidance to students with SEMH needs.
- Support pupils in identifying career aspirations, pathways, and achievable goals.
- Develop and maintain relationships with colleges, training providers, employers, and apprenticeship organisations.
- Organise work experience placements, employer encounters, careers events, and transition opportunities.
- Assist students with CV writing, applications, interview preparation, and employability skills.
- Work collaboratively with pastoral teams, SENCOs, therapists, and teaching staff to support individual outcomes.
- Maintain accurate records and contribute to Gatsby Benchmark and careers programme development.
- Promote attendance, engagement, resilience, and independence among students.
- The Ideal Candidate Will Have
- Experience working with young people, particularly those with SEMH, SEND, or additional needs.
- A recognised careers guidance qualification (Level 4 or above desirable).
- Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
- Patience, empathy, resilience, and a flexible approach.
- Knowledge of post-16 pathways, apprenticeships, further education, and local labour markets.
- The ability to motivate and inspire students who may have had negative experiences in education.
At Portland School, we are dedicated to providing exceptional learning and experiences to pupils with Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Difficulties (SEMHD). Our mission is to empower young minds and nurture futures, ensuring that every student reaches their full potential. We are a split site school with two provisions to meet different needs, one at Trent Vale one at Blythe Bridge. We have an amazing staff team who work tirelessly to support approximately 140 pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs.
As a specialist school our pupils benefit from smaller class sizes, a more practical curriculum, access to alternative accreditations and a highly trained staff team. Both sites have spacious grounds allowing us to provide outdoor education, with our Blythe Bridge site boasting specialist classrooms for Design and technology, Art and Design, Science, Food technology and PE.
At the heart of our school are a set of shared values where our entire school community are supported to develop a sense of Respect, Responsibility, Belonging, Independence, show a Team Approach and look after their own Mental Toughness.
Shaw Education Trust offer the following employee benefits with your Teaching or Support Staff employment:
- An excellent Local Government Pension Scheme (Support Staff) / Teachers Pension (Teaching Staff)
- Support Staff only based on working full time, all year - Generous holiday entitlement from your first day of employment (37 days holiday rising to 39 days after 5 years’ service including Bank Holidays)
- Access to Medicash Health & Wellbeing Plan: Enjoy health services designed to support your well-being.
- Free DiscountForTeachers Scheme for all staff (Support and Teaching), Exclusive discounts to save money with a wide selection of discounts and exclusive offers from hundreds of the biggest brands.
- Free Eye Tests
- Cycle to work scheme
- Access to our Institute of Education and fantastic opportunities to help you grow, contribute and flourish in your role and in the Trust.
Safer Recruitment & Equal Opportunities Statement
Portland is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment, click here to review Safeguarding and Pupil Protection Policy
This position is subject to robust vetting procedures, including an online search for all shortlisted candidates, in line with our Trust’s commitment to safer recruitment.
An enhanced criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), formerly known as the CRB, is required. You will be asked to disclose all relevant unspent and, where applicable, unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions, and convictions.
Shaw Education Trust is an Equal Opportunities employer. We are fully committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection processes promote equality, diversity, and inclusion at every stage.
In accordance with our safer recruitment policy CVs alone will not be accepted.
Closing Date: 9am Monday 6th July
Interview Date: To be confirmed
We reserve the right to appoint before the closing date as we review applications on an on-going basis and interviews may be arranged as suitable candidates are identified, therefore, we encourage early applications.
Successful candidates will be subject to a fully Enhanced DBS check along with other relevant employment checks.
Work Location: In person
