Whats it like working as TA in special needs school?

[canteatcustard]

Have just applied to work as TA in special needs school. Have decided I need a change after working in early years and schools for many years.
Am looking forward to the challenge, so what the best thing about working in a special needs school?

Best: kids are mostly great and you get to know them all really well as special schools are small. Seeing kids come from mainstream primary and flourish in a specialist setting is lovely. The job is never boring.

Worst: you often end up more hands-on with the behaviour management side than the teachers, while getting paid significantly less. Behaviour issues can be severe and the days can feel really full on. You should get a lot more support with this than you do in mainstream though.

That's my experience as a former teacher in a secondary school for children with mild to moderate SEN. If it's a setting for children with severe disabilities that's very different - in fact probably not all that different to EYFS in some ways, with less focus on formal education and more on learning through play and ensuring that children are medically taken care of during the day. Both are great and rewarding places to work, I'm sure you'll love it

Hi custard, how are you getting on? Im thinking of applying to a sn school too after years of working in early years.