Speech & Language Therapist Band 5 (School) - FTC until 31st March 27 in Tadworth

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Speech and Language Therapist (Band 5) to join our Rehabilitation services team at The Childrens Trust School. This role is to provide high quality, evidence-based speech and language therapy service which promotes participation and functional activity of children and young people.

Main duties of the job:

• Provide a high quality, evidence-based speech and language therapy service which promotes participation and functional activity of children and young people.
• Provide speech and language therapy to children and young people accessing The Childrens Trust School, including assessment and intervention to children and young people with acquired brain injuries, neurodisabilities and neurodevelopmental conditions.
• Support the delivery of child and family focused, goal led interventions, working in collaboration with education, multi-agency, and multidisciplinary teams.

About Us:

The Childrens Trust is the UKs leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, providing expert rehabilitation, education, therapy, and care at our national specialist centre in Tadworth, and to children and their families across the UK, via our Brain Injury Community Service.

The work we do is highly rewarding, and in addition to an attractive salary, we offer a valuable range of benefits, including adoption pay, time off for fertility treatment, enhanced paternity leave, paid carers leave, time out days for those experiencing menopause symptoms, time off for gender reassignment. We also offer additional annual leave days for those with long service, with entitlements ranging from 35 to 41 days (including bank holidays) depending on your length of service.

Other benefits include free on-site parking; a staff shuttle service from Epsom and Sutton train stations to Tadworth Court, subsidised cafeteria, on-site staff accommodation (subject to availability), the ability to retain your NHS pension (where applicable) or the opportunity to join an alternative scheme, and the opportunity to develop your career in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Job responsibilities:

• Provide high quality, evidence-based speech and language therapy provision for children and young people attending The Childrens Trust School, in partnership with other members of the Multidisciplinary Team and education services.
• Undertake speech and language therapy assessments of children with complex needs e.g., multiple co-morbidities, neurodisabilities and chronic conditions, through standardised and non-standardised assessments and clinical observations.
• Devise suitable, individualised, speech and language therapy programmes/strategies that fit within the child's daily routine, whether to be carried out by parents or members of the Multidisciplinary Team; these should be monitored, evaluated, and adjusted appropriately according to the needs of the child.
• Develop therapy goals, in collaboration with the child and family/carers, as well as the multidisciplinary and education teams, other health professionals and agencies, to facilitate the participation of the child in their life skills.
• Set outcomes as part of the child or young person's annual review and Education, Health, and Care Plans.
• Support the multidisciplinary and education teams with measuring short term targets, through using the IMpacts curriculum, therapy outcome measurement tools e.g., Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS).
• Keep appropriate and accurate intervention records, fulfilling legal, professional and all other requirements of The Childrens Trust.
• Contribute to child related reports, including looked after children and annual review reports as required, and assist with the collation of these as required, in a timely manner in line with organisational targets.
• Support the delivery of a tiered model approach to speech and language therapy at The Childrens Trust School, providing regular integrated time to classes and Houses.
• Work closely with all members of the Multidisciplinary Team, as well as the child and family, to provide a fully integrated approach to the overall management of the child.
• Provide clinical cover across the service during episodes of staff shortage/heavy workload, in order to ensure effective service delivery.
• Work flexibly in terms of hours, including the ability to work an early evening (weekly) and one weekend day, per calendar month.

Communication:

• Develop effective communication strategies with children/young people (applying the principles of total communication).
• Facilitate effective communication with families and members of the Multidisciplinary Team.
• Maintain clear and concise documents and records, in accordance with The Childrens Trust policies.
• Ensure documents are managed confidentially at all times.
• Attend regular meetings with the multidisciplinary team, to discuss individual children/ young people and service in general, as required e.g., reviews, case conferences, parents evenings, clinics.

Management of Self and Others:

• Provide support and supervision for volunteers and students within area of responsibility, providing motivation and support to achieve key objectives.
• Participate in the annual Performance Development Review and monthly supervision sessions as required by The Childrens Trust, both as appraiser and appraise.
• Manage time effectively, ensuring they prioritise their workload appropriately and delegate work as required.
• Work closely with specialist and highly specialist & specialist therapists and multi-disciplinary technicians, seeking advice, supervision, and support as needed.

Governance:

• Read and implement all policies, procedures, and risk assessments pertinent to working practice and keep up to date with policy changes as they occur.
• Critically evaluate practice (with support) through clinical audit findings, combined with knowledge of evidence-based practice and identify opportunities for service improvement and development.
• Critically reflect on own performance and that of other staff, and use this evaluation to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of future practice.
• Support clinical governance activities.

Career-Long Learning, Education and Research:

• Undertake all mandatory training, in line with The Childrens Trust policy.
• Prepare appropriately for Performance Development Reviews, identifying learning objectives and setting targets; identify opportunities for professional development in order to meet continuing professional development requirements.
• Actively seek personal educational developmental opportunities, through attending off-site courses and events, in-house training sessions, contact and involvement with relevant special interest groups and external organisations, and updating knowledge through Literature Reviews.
• Participate in in-service competency training programmes and teaching sessions, as appropriate.

Limits of Authority and Problem Solving:

• In addition to The Childrens Trust policies, the Speech and Language Therapist is governed by, and should adhere to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Standards of Proficiency for speech and language therapists and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Quality Assurance Standards.
• Day to day decisions regarding caseload.
• Co-working clinical cases with Specialist or Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist.
• Support the Speech and Language Therapy Team in delivery of an effective service.
• Responsible for day-to-day time management and prioritisation of workload taking into account the needs of the whole service.
• Monthly formal supervision.
• Any other duties as required.

Professionalism:

• Take action and raise concerns.
• Adhere to the policies and procedures of The Childrens Trust.
• Maintain professional boundaries and professionalism at all times.
• Committed to demonstrating the organisations values and behaviours at all times.

Health and Safety:

• Adhere to all Health and Safety guidelines, principles, and regulations to perform your role and comply with The Childrens Trust policies and procedures.
• Provide evidence of all vaccinations (or medical exemption) required for the post.
• Adhere to manual handling procedures and complete mandatory manual handling training.
• Promote the health and safety of others.
• Use the incident reporting and risk assessment system (IRAR), to identify and report risks and incidents/actions if directed.
• Responsible for identifying and mitigating risk within the work environment.

Wellbeing and Emotional Resilience:

• Maintain a positive approach and outlook when dealing with change and overcoming challenges and problems.
• Recognise own limitations, develop realistic goals, and use support network resource when or if necessary.
• Treat challenges and problems as a learning experience.
• Remain organised and focused when under pressure.
• Respond appropriately and effectively to all constructive feedback.
• Motivate self and others.

Person Specification:

• Clinical reasoning skills in predictable situations, analysing a variety of evidence and presenting this in a relevant format e.g., report; presentation.
• Evidence of working towards observation and treatment skills relevant to the assessment and management.
• Workload management including delegation of tasks.
• Competent IT skills, in order to collect and interpret data, present reports and compile presentations.
• Reflective practice skills: able to give clear and effective feedback and support others to develop.
• Ability to meet the physical demands of a school therapy role.
• Ability to work flexibly, in order to meet the needs of the service and the children, including an early evening (weekly) and one weekend day, per calendar month (N.B. there is no On Call service required).
• Clinical assessment and intervention skills relevant to children and young people with neuro-disability.

• RCSLT recognised degree or postgraduate diploma in Speech and Language Therapy.
• HCPC registration.
• Maintains a portfolio of continuous Professional Development, in line with regulatory body standards.
• Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy.
• Member of specialist interest group or forum.

• Commitment to the vision and values of The Childrens Trust.
• Flexible and can do attitude to competing commitments in workload.
• Highly motivated and reliable.
• Ability to cope working in a demanding environment.

• Experience of working with children and families.
• Experience of working as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Experience of working with children/young people and/or adults with acquired brain injury or neurodisability.

• Knowledge and understanding of safeguarding children and young people with complex disabilities.
• Competent skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£35,763 to £43,466 a year dependent upon experience inclusive of Outer London Weighting.