ESOL Learning Mentor - Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children

The Opportunity

Salary: NJC Grade 7 £29,540 to £32,061 per annum

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Pattern: 37 hours per week, full time, Monday to Friday

Location: Countywide (West Sussex), your base location will be agreed with you at interview

Please note: You will be required to travel independently throughout the county, including to locations that are not always accessible by public transport.

Closing date: 19 April 2026

Interview date: 24 April 2026

The Virtual School team have an exciting opportunity to join us as an ESOL Learning Mentor for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC).

Working with our unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, you will provide individual or small group English language support and tuition. You will assess their educational needs, design and deliver small group work and also create bespoke packages of tuition where required.

This is a collaborative role, where you will liaise with colleagues across the Virtual School, Social Care, schools, the wider education sector, and other professionals as required. This ensures that children looked after have access to education and also have meaningful and regular Personal Educational Plans (PEP) meetings that are focussed on raising academic achievement and attainment,

Key responsibilities of the role include:

• Supporting children with access to school or college.
• Attending statutory meetings for PEP's linked to young people's care plans.
• Planning and delivering initial assessments of English proficiency, identifying suitable pathways for learning.
• Providing specialist knowledge and advice to young people on the educational and social opportunities available to them.
• For each student, record keeping, monitoring and analysis of information.
• Support students to overcome barriers to education and positively impact outcomes for children and young people.

For more information on the Key Skills, Qualifications and/or Experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

About You

We are looking for someone who has a positive approach to innovation, solutions, support, and challenge. You will need emotional resilience and a passion for improving the lives of children we care for.

Please refer to the key skills in your cover letter as these will be used for shortlisting criteria.

Key Skills:

1. Ability to present information clearly, concisely, accurately and in ways that promote understanding, either verbally or in written/electronic format.
2. Ability to develop strong and purposeful relationships with a range of professionals, carers and young people.
3. Sound technical knowledge in relevant discipline to a level suitable to provide advice and support to other team members. Ability to work creatively and under own initiative to ensure best outcomes for the young people in our care.
4. Be able to use first language assessment materials to establish current educational level of UASC in their own language as well as English. Use these assessments to provide professional written reports for schools and other settings.
5. Ability to assess ESOL levels and design and deliver appropriate schemes of work of ESOL to meet the language requirements of individuals and groups of students.

Qualifications and/or experience:

• L5 ESOL teaching certificate or equivalent.
• Experience of designing and implementing appropriate schemes of work.
• Experience working with older children and those with English as a second language.
• Experience of working with colleagues in social care and education settings.
• Understanding of the asylum-seeking process and the impact this has on well-being,
• A willingness to travel to various locations around the county.

About Us

The Virtual School operates under the local authority's statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of children looked after. This involves over 1000 children in approximately 250 schools and settings and is subject to constant change as children enter and leave care. The school also offers advice and information to those engaged with the education of children previously in care, children with a social worker and those in Kinship care arrangements.

Benefits

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees who are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance, and are rewarded for the work they do.

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits including the following:

Employer Pension Contribution: 18.70% (this alters per annum on the 1 April each year).

Annual leave: 25 days holiday + Bank Holidays = 33 days

How to Apply

The reference number for this role is CAFHE06241.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Sarah Clark at

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter.

In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, five years referencing, and an occupational health check.

Equity, inclusion, and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact Natalie Greene, Recruitment Specialist, at