The Catholic Children's Society (Connect-ed) is recruiting school counsellors and therapists for a permanent part-time office-based role in London. The position pays £32,998.01 to £37,313.54 a year on a full-time-equivalent basis. The advertised work is based in schools and centres on counselling support for children and young people. The closing time is 9am on 19 October 2026. Employment is permanent and part-time.
The role sits within the Catholic Children's Society's Connect-ed service, where school counselling connects emotional support with the safeguarding and pastoral structures around a child. The published vacancy covers London and names the Catholic Children's Society as the employer. Candidates considering UK therapy vacancies should distinguish the full-time-equivalent salary from the actual part-time hours set for the appointment. The public vacancy gives the employment terms and closing date but does not state a fixed weekly hours figure.
- Role: School Counsellors/Therapists
- Employer: Catholic Children's Society (Connect-ed)
- Location: London, England
- Employment: Permanent, part-time, office-based
- Pay: £32,998.01 to £37,313.54 per year full-time equivalent
- Closing date: 9am, 19 October 2026
School Counselling Work
School counsellors work with pupils who need a confidential space to discuss emotional distress, relationships, bereavement, anxiety, low mood or changes at home. Sessions may involve structured therapeutic conversation, age-appropriate emotional language and agreed goals that can be reviewed over time. The work remains separate from classroom teaching, while the wider school environment supplies information about attendance, behaviour and wellbeing.
Children's counselling also requires clear boundaries around confidentiality. A practitioner explains at the outset what information remains private and what must be shared when a safeguarding concern arises. Records need accurate dates, concise clinical observations and a clear account of decisions. Referrals to other services follow the child's needs, the safeguarding framework and the limits of the practitioner's role.
Permanent Part-Time Practice
Permanent part-time employment gives a practitioner an ongoing relationship with the service rather than a short placement tied to one school term. The actual weekly pattern is not stated in the public vacancy, so the appointment's hours and school allocation remain matters for the employer to confirm during recruitment. Office-based work places the counselling activity in a defined professional setting rather than an unsupervised remote arrangement.
Part-time school counselling requires careful diary control. A practitioner needs protected time for sessions, preparation, record keeping, supervision, safeguarding discussion and communication with the relevant pastoral staff. School calendars also affect attendance, examinations, holidays and the timing of referrals. A workable schedule keeps clinical work separate from administrative tasks so that each pupil receives a consistent service.
Session planning and review
- Confidential clinical record keeping
- Safeguarding consultation and escalation
- Professional supervision
- Communication with authorised school and service contacts
Therapeutic Support For Young People
Children and adolescents do not always describe distress in adult clinical language. Anxiety may appear through avoidance, physical complaints, irritability or a change in school attendance. A counsellor uses developmentally appropriate conversation, play or creative methods when those methods fall within the practitioner's training. The pupil's age, communication style and understanding shape the pace of assessment and intervention.
School-based therapy also works within a network of adults. Parents or carers, designated safeguarding staff, teachers and external professionals may each hold part of the relevant picture, subject to consent and safeguarding rules. The counsellor keeps the child's welfare central while sharing only the information needed for safe and coordinated support. Multi-agency communication requires precise language because clinical impressions, safeguarding facts and educational observations are not interchangeable.
Qualifications And Casework Boundaries
The public vacancy does not publish a qualification list, so no specific degree, registration or years-of-experience threshold can be attributed to this role. School counselling practice normally depends on recognised therapeutic training, supervised clinical work and a clear understanding of safeguarding duties. Candidates should confirm the Catholic Children's Society's required qualifications and professional registration before submitting an application.
Professional boundaries become especially important when the client is a child. The practitioner must understand consent and capacity, explain confidentiality in language the child can follow, identify risks and use the service's escalation route. Supervision provides a structured place to review clinical decisions, the therapeutic relationship and any concern that could affect the child's safety. These duties sit alongside the practical work of maintaining reliable attendance and accurate records.
London School Settings
London schools serve pupils from many family, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Counselling practice must account for differences in how distress is described, who holds decision-making responsibility and what support a family can access outside school. Cultural humility, plain explanations and interpreters where authorised help reduce misunderstandings without replacing clinical assessment.
The school setting also creates a practical boundary around privacy. A counselling room needs a predictable time, controlled access and enough separation from classrooms for a pupil to speak without being overheard. A practitioner coordinates with school staff without turning therapy into a disciplinary process. The service therefore depends on both clinical skill and careful cooperation with the people responsible for education and safeguarding.
The Catholic Children's Society role uses a full-time-equivalent salary range, so the final part-time pay will depend on the contracted hours agreed with the employer. That distinction matters when candidates compare permanent school counselling positions with sessional or freelance work. The closing time is fixed at 9am on 19 October 2026, while the public listing leaves the weekly timetable and qualification criteria for the recruitment process.
The Connect-ed service places the role at the meeting point of therapy, education and child protection. A candidate's preparation therefore needs to cover clinical experience with young people, safeguarding examples, supervision arrangements and the ability to maintain professional records. Those details give the recruiting team a clearer basis for assessing whether the practitioner can provide safe counselling within a school service.
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Contact Details:
AYP Counselling & DB Consulting Recruitment Team
