HLTA struggling at new school - please help!

[BlueEyesUltimateDragon]

Hi all, sorry this will be an essay!

I've been a TA for years and in 2021 I started a course to become a HLTA, which I passed a year ago. I enjoyed my role and even the last minute cover (although sometimes stressful with 15 mins notice!)

I have moved areas (south England to North England) and have recently been employed as a HLTA at a new school. I have some support duties but I am mainly covering, which is fine.

What I'm struggling with is the behaviour at the school and lack of support staff. I've come from a school with an incredible team of people, where every class has a TA and there were several.1:1s where they were needed. I was under no illusion that this was normal and I understand that lots of schools can't afford this. However, my new school has almost no support staff at all! 2 children in the school have 1:1s for moderate to severe SEN but there are also several children who have significant needs and they do not have regular 1:1 or 1:2 support and definitely not in my lessons. This means that, in one of my year groups, I have 5 children out of 30 who really need an extra adult and I am the only one there. The level of disruption by the children is high and this then reflects on the rest of the class so that almost all of them are not learning/talking/walking around etc. The SEN children can be shouting, screaming, disrupting other children's tables, rolling on the floor etc.

The school has a positive only behaviour system which sounds wonderful in practice but is not stopping the disruption and I am honestly dreading going back in tomorrow (I've only even there a couple of weeks and this makes me so sad!) They did have a traffic light system but took this away for this academic year. Teachers Will verbally warn children of their behaviour (there is no consistency with this, one child had nearly 30 verbal warnings in 1 hour) and children can be sent to another class for a few minutes or miss breaks and lunches, but this is highly discouraged.

I am ashamed to admit that I am already looking to leave and the school have been very honest that they have had several HLTAs since September and really don't want me to leave. I have even started to consider non-teaching roles as I wonder if I'm just not cut out for this.

I am teaching mainly wider curriculum lessons so lots of discussion, practical work etc which doesn't help.either! I have tried counting down to 0, clapping, "give me 5", all the strategies I have learnt and are used around the school, but none have much effect.

Please can anyone share some advice or words of wisdom as I am utterly miserable and this seemed like the perfect job. I just really want to make it work but I can't bear that I am letting the children and myself down by not being able to control the classroom. Please please help a stressed out woman who is absolutely defeated after only 2 weeks of work!

P.S. the teachers have a better handle on the behaviour but there is still a lot of disruption, even for them.

This sounds really tough. One thing to remember is that new members of staff always find discipline harder than more established members of staff. I'm sorry to say also that kids can also sniff out the difference between HLTAs and teachers. Plus you have loads of different classes, so you've got the triple whammy!
I think not having a whole school behaviour policy that discourages poor behaviour is a major problem. I would ignore the fact that it's discouraged, and be consistent yourself with the warnings and missing break or being sent to other classrooms. Also go really heavy on the positive reinforcement. Are you primary or secondary? When I had a really tricky Year 1 class, I had a constant raffle going on. Positive behaviour earned them a raffle ticket, and I gave out LOADS of these. At the end of each day or session, I'd draw one or two raffle tickets and they'd get to pick a small prize. It really helped. If you don't get any support from SLT with all of this, I would consider leaving. Good luck!

Agree with the above - go heavy on the praise for those doing the right thing. Use the sanctions such as they are and be clear with SLT that the behaviour is impacting learning. However ultimately if they don't want to tackle the behaviour and prefer to brush it under the carpet you may need to go elsewhere.

@CeciliaMars@cansu thank you both for your replies, I really appreciate it.

On Monday I decided to meet the head and give my resignation, the day was really bad. The head spent a long time with me and agreed the behaviour system needs looking at and reworking as it isn't where it is at all. She stressed that the school is a particularly tough school but she believed we could make it work together. I agreed and left feeling a little more positive.
However, today, one class has refused to do any work and so must do it again tomorrow and, whilst using the sanction of sending a child out of class, a y6 pupil kicked their chair across the room in anger, amongst other disruptive, throwing behaviours (glue sticks, pens, whiteboards etc). That's not including all of the other disruptive children in the class backchatting, refusing to work, constant out of seats etc.

All in all to say, this one isn't for me! Unfortunately, even if the behaviour system is overhauled, I don't think I can mentally cope until it has an impact, which could still be months away. So I'll be giving my resignation in on Friday this week. I feel really sad, I know I'm not an incapable hlta/ta but this school is just beyond my capabilities. There are some really lovely children there but it just isn’t enough for me to put up with the rest I'm afraid. Luckily, I am in the fortunate position that I can leave without another job (although I'd like one ASAP!)

Thanks again!