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Cover letter example

Teaching Assistant Cover Letter Example

Principals want a steady, observant assistant who keeps good notes. This letter leads with reading progress at the writer's current school, shows daily routines, and links small-group reading to the school's new phonics program.

Early career · 236 words · Last reviewed 4 November 2026 · 2 min read · How we write these

The job this letter answers

Teaching Assistant, Carrowmore Primary School

Carrowmore Primary School is a rural school of about 120 pupils, and this year it starts a whole-school phonics program with daily reading groups in every class.

  • Support a class alongside the teacher
  • Run small group reading
  • Prepare resources and display work
  • Keep notes on each child's progress
Template

The letter takes the colors of the resume template, the same way a downloaded cover letter matches your resume.

Sinead Walsh

Galway · sinead.walsh@example.com

4 November 2026

Ms Niamh Fogarty

Principal

Carrowmore Primary School

Subject: Application for Teaching Assistant

Dear Ms Fogarty,

At St Colm's Primary School, three of the four children in my daily small-group reading have reached the expected level this year. I am applying for the Teaching Assistant post at Carrowmore Primary School.

I support a class of 26 children aged 6 and 7 alongside the class teacher. Each week I prepare resources and display work, and I keep notes on each child's progress that I share at our weekly planning meeting. Two children with additional needs follow the day with visual timetables I help them use, and when the teacher is out for a short time I lead the class for up to half a day.

Carrowmore's new phonics program, with daily reading groups in every class, is work I already do and would gladly do more of. Running small group reading has taught me that the notes matter as much as the session, because they tell the teacher what to change next time. Before St Colm's I volunteered at Tobarbeg Primary School, hearing children read twice a week and helping to run a lunchtime homework club for 15 pupils. I also speak Irish fluently, which could help in class.

Spending a morning in one of your classes would show you how I work with a reading group, and I am happy to bring a sample of my progress notes with the names taken out. My safeguarding training certificate can come along as well.

Kind regards,

Sinead Walsh

A made-up letter. The person, the employers and every number are invented, and any resemblance to a real one is chance. Sending it by email? Put the subject line in the email’s subject box, add your name to it, and attach the letter as a PDF.

Paragraph by paragraph

  1. The opening

    Starts: “At St Colm's Primary School, three of…”

    It names the current school straight away and opens on the progress a principal can picture.

  2. Your strongest evidence

    Starts: “I support a class of 26 children…”

    Each sentence answers one advert line, from supporting the teacher to keeping progress notes.

  3. Why this employer

    Starts: “Carrowmore's new phonics program, with daily reading…”

    It links the school's own plan to the writer's daily work and uses the advert's words on running small group reading.

  4. The close

    Starts: “Spending a morning in one of your…”

    It offers a short practical visit and two things the principal would ask to see anyway.

Why this letter works

  • The reading result names the group size and how many children reached the level.
  • The current school is named in the first line, so the story reads in order.
  • The phonics program gives a reason to choose this school that matches the writer's daily work.
  • Volunteering explains a short career without apology.

How to write your own teaching assistant cover letter

  1. Open with the school where you work now and one reading result from it.
  2. Give the number of children in your group and how many made progress.
  3. Say how your notes reach the teacher and when.
  4. Mention how you help children with additional needs follow the day.
  5. Link your strongest routine to something new at the school.
  6. Bring anonymised progress notes so the principal sees how you record.

Common questions

Can I mention individual children in a teaching assistant letter?

Never by name. Describe the group and the result in general terms.

How should a teaching assistant show they work well with a teacher?

Describe a shared routine, such as weekly planning, and what you bring to it.

Does a short career need explaining in a school support letter?

No. Show what you do now and any volunteering, with hours and tasks.

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