A vacancy exists for an Occupational Therapist to join our multidisciplinary team for a full-time permanent term position. You will be joining a therapy team of 3 other Occupational Therapists, 4 Speech and Language Therapists, 3 counsellors and a Multi-Therapy assistant that work across three sites.
The Burlington House school is an Independent School for pupils aged 7-19 that is mainstream in structure and specialist in nature. We work across three sites, our Prep Site has 54 pupils, Senior site has 58 pupils and our 6th Form has 76 pupils.
We meet the needs of a wide range of pupils including but not limited to:
- Pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD): dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, ADHD
- Pupils with speech, language and communication difficulties
- Pupils who require Occupational Therapy (OT) support in achieving age appropriate functional skills
- Pupils with higher functioning Autistic Spectrum condition
- Vulnerable pupils who have sensory processing difficulties impacting on emotional regulation, attention and concentration managed with basic self-regulation strategies
Purpose of the position:
- To see a caseload of pupils with a range of needs including. Offering an effective specialised standard of Occupational Therapy (OT) assessment, intervention and advice using clinical reasoning and evidence based/child centred principles.
- To be responsible for promoting the Occupational Therapy role within the multidisciplinary team, providing specialist advice to other professionals/colleagues to ensure delivery of an effective service to pupils across the health and social care community.
Responsibilities will include (but not be limited to):
- To formally assess appropriate pupils on admission and to provide reports
- To provide bi-annual therapy reports and targets for your caseload
- To attend Annual/EHCP Reviews and contribute to Individual Curriculum Maps.
- Interpretation, provision and implementation of Occupational Therapy requirements identified in Education and Health Care Plans.
- To identify how physical, psychological or learning difficulties affect the child’s functional skills, and to help remediate these effects or develop compensatory approaches.
- To keep accurate and detailed records of therapy and assessments.
- To liaise with class teachers and learning support assistants regularly.
- To liaise/meet with with parents as appropriate regarding intervention
- To be familiar with a range of formal, standardised assessments and interpretation of findings to inform input and be able present assessment findings in formal occupational therapy reports for wider distribution.
- To work as part of a multidisciplinary team and engage with peer learning opportunities
- To plan and carry out individual, paired and group interventions to facilitate enhanced occupational performance in the pupil’s functional skills, to promote performance, confidence and happiness.
- To communicate with staff regularly through recommending appropriate accommodations or interventions designed to enhance the pupil’s potential for learning.
- To attend staff meetings, parents’ evenings and other events as requested by Therapy lead.
- To attend in school in-service training and maintain your own professional portfolio.
- To provide relevant in-service training to school staff and parents, via presentations, talks and career evenings on topics related to the role of the occupational therapist and occupational therapy.
- To maintain and develop the Occupational Therapy service.
Personal Specification
Qualifications/Requirements:
- Occupational Therapy degree
- HCPC registration
- Enhanced DBS checks
- Experience of working with a paediatric caseload in a school setting.
- Experience of independently managing a caseload and diary.
- Experience of using paediatric assessment tools, interpreting results and providing reports.
Experience:
It would be an advantage but not required if applicants has:
- Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
- Experience or knowledge of Ayres Sensory Integration with training in module 1
- Experience of working with pupils diagnosis:
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Sensory processing difficulties
- Social communication and language difficulties
- Attention Hyperactivity Disorder / Attention deficit disorder
- Anxiety
- Trauma and attachment difficulties
- Emotional regulation difficulties
As part of your role you will receive access ongoing supervision, opportunity to work within an MDT and be part of an exciting and dynamic team. Some additional benefits include: school lunches, paid school holidays, extra-mural sport for staff and opportunity to go on school trips.