Education Keyworker - The Harbour School

Education Keyworker – The Harbour School Portsmouth

Salary: Band G, £33,119 - £37,563 per annum (actual salary for term time plus 1 week £29,042 - £32,939 per annum), plus generous sick pay and pension scheme

37hrs per week, Term time plus 1 week, Permanent

Please note: Must have a full clean driving license and be willing to use your vehicle for school business.

Do you believe that the hardest days can still hold the moments that matter most?

At our Lighthouse Campus, many of our young people arrive carrying more than most adults ever see - anxiety, trauma, anger, mistrust, or simply the belief that school isn’t a place for them. Some mornings you’ll welcome a student who won’t speak. Other days you’ll be helping someone who’s already in crisis before the day even begins. You’ll adapt, reset, breathe… and try again.

As an Education Keyworker, you’ll be the steady person who sits alongside a young person and helps them make sense of their goals, their emotions and their next steps. You’ll design personalised programmes when the usual approaches have already failed them, build trust one conversation at a time, and spot the tiny signs of progress that others might miss. 

And those moments - a small smile, a calmer transition, a student trying again after giving up - are what make this role powerful.

If you’re someone who believes in slow, steady change and in meeting young people exactly where they are, this could be where you make your difference.

What you’ll be doing: 

• Supporting students to navigate barriers that make learning feel impossible - academic, social, emotional and everything in between.


• Designing and delivering creative, personalised and accredited learning programmes, including ILPs and EHCP contributions.


• Tracking progress carefully, spotting the tiny shifts, and adjusting support with patience and optimism.


• Building relationships that feel real and safe - because connection always comes before behaviour change.


• Growing confidence, resilience and self‑esteem, even when it’s a slow burn and the steps forward don’t always come in a straight line.


• Using trauma‑informed and restorative approaches to help every young person feel valued, understood and safe enough to try.


• Turning “I won’t” into “I might,” and sometimes into, “I did it.”

Who we’re looking for:

• Experience supporting children with SEMH needs, exclusions or significant barriers to learning.


• Someone who sees challenge as an opportunity to get creative and curious, not discouraged.


• A team player who thrives in a strong, compassionate and collaborative staff community.


• Someone with NVQ Level 4 (or equivalent) and solid literacy and numeracy.


• Adaptable, resilient and ready to embrace the unpredictability of each day.


• Passionate about inclusion — the kind of person who knows that for some young people, simply showing up is a victory worth celebrating.

About Us: The Harbour School is a multi-site organisation, with campuses at Bay Campus (including Primary at The Bay), The Bridge Campus, The Lighthouse Campus, and the Vista Campus (including The Horizon Service), all based within the city of Portsmouth. We also have an Outreach Support Team and a Hospital tuition service at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.

The Lighthouse Campus is a full-time educational provision for vulnerable students with complex social emotional and mental health learning needs for whom all other educational provision has broken down. Students demonstrate a range of highly challenging behaviours and at times pose significant risk to themselves and others.

The primary focus of The Lighthouse campus is to work effectively and holistically with the unmet emotional and relational needs of students using an emotional literacy framework which promotes relationships for wellbeing, learning of new social and emotional skills, behaviour change, engagement in learning, success and achievement.

Why Join Us?

• A skilled, compassionate, genuinely supportive team who reflect together, and understand the emotional weight of the work.


• Friday afternoons off


• Strong induction and ongoing training


• A school that celebrates progress, not just academic data


• A role where the impact is real, human and lasting


• Free access to the Employee Assistance Programme and our Cycle to Work Scheme.


• The opportunity to develop your career in a School, and within the Southern Education Trust - a growing Trust where our mission is “making lives better”.

If you believe every young person deserves someone who refuses to give up on them - someone who is ready to change a young person’s story one hard-won step at a time - we hope that someone might be you.

Closing date: 13^th September 2026

Interview date: Friday, 25^th September 2026

Please note: Applications may be viewed on receipt and interviews arranged sooner than the above date.

Become part of our journey by completing our Application Form and returning it to [email protected] if you would like to apply (please see Job Description, and Safeguarding Children Policy for further information). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kate at the recruitment address, who will be happy to assist you.

The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, this role involves directly working with children and significant contact with children, and therefore we expect all staff and volunteers to share the same commitment. Please ensure a full work history is completed in your application form including any gaps of employment. Applicants will be required to complete satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check for this post prior to commencement. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The Trust is an equal opportunities employer. 

If successfully shortlisted the HR Department will also be conducting an individual online search including social media platforms of your ‘name, education and employment’, to demonstrate due diligence following ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education' guidance.   The search will not form part of the actual shortlisting process and any concerns arising from the search will be discussed directly with you. 

Job Description

Application Form

Child Protection policy