Job summary
Do you want to be part of a large trans-disciplinary team of dedicated teaching staff, occupational therapists, speech & language therapists and wellbeing practitioners helping children aged 4-19 years with complex needs?

Sherwood Foundation School prides itself on its individualised, trans-disciplinary approach to learning; with the child/ young person and their family at the heart of our practice. We are dedicated to using strengths based, relationship focused, person-centred practices to support the learning and growth of our pupils. We aim to create a school culture and learning environment that facilitates the active engagement and participation of our learners, using motivating and meaningful activities that support the development of regulation, communication, social skills, cognitive abilities and life skills in preparation for adulthood.

Main duties of the job

• Working within a multidisciplinary team of Occupational Therapists and Speech Therapists the post holder will have the opportunity to work in local schools and colleges across the 4 years to 25 years age range or with a smaller age range within this.
• Advising and supporting a range of schools/settings with children and young people with Occupational Therapy Needs (OT Needs) including a possible cohort with ASD, or PMLD to manage their caseload to ensure that intended outcomes are delivered within agreed service standards.
• Raising awareness of the needs of and strategies available for children and young people with OT Needs.

About us
Cognus Therapies is a thriving multidisciplinary team of Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, and Therapy Assistants who support children and young people in schools, colleges, bases and specialist provisions within the London Borough of Sutton and surrounding boroughs.

Sherwood Foundation School is an all age foundation special school, which consists of three campuses:

Sherwood Park Campus in Wallington, which provides for pupils whose primary needs are profound and multiple learning disabilities and severe learning disabilities.

Sherwood Hill Campus in Carshalton, which provides for pupils where their diagnosis of Autism has a significant or profound impact on their learning and/ or social and emotional skills, affecting their capacity to cope across daily activities.

Sherwood Manor Campus in Wallington is for secondary aged students and primarily for autistic learners as well as some with moderate learning difficulties many of whom have additional differences and complexities.

Job responsibilities

• Visiting and assessing children and young people with OT Needs.
• To appropriately identify service provision in line with child and young persons needs at specialist, targeted or universal level of support.
• Delivery of specialist programmes on an individual and/or small group basis.
• Advice and treatment for children and young people with functional difficulties and sensory processing needs.
• Offering advice to parents and carers as well as teaching staff at a targeted or universal level.
• Maintaining children/young peoples records to a high standard.
• Screening and prioritising new referrals in order to determine the need and level of therapy provision required in line with service criteria.
• At the point of referral, gathering relevant information regarding previous and current input from health and social care services.
• Carrying out a range of non-standardised and standardised assessments and interpreting a range of factors relating to the child or young persons condition; focusing on access to education.
• Providing reports to referrers and other agencies involved in the child/young persons care and advice on appropriate differentiation of and access to the curriculum.
• Plan, create and deliver a wide range of tailored interventions and/ or therapy programmes where direct SaLT input is indicated and effectively hand over prescribed programmes through training and modelling with teaching staff, parents and carers.
• To maintain effective liaison with all partners e.g. parents/ carers, professionals in Education, Health, Social Care and other Services with particular regard to Safeguarding and best practice.
• To monitor and record child or young persons progress and effectiveness of intervention through goal setting, outcome measurement and evaluation of practice and to communicate these with key stakeholders.
• Collaboration with a range of partner agencies to create effective transition support for specific children and young people.
• Promotion of effective inclusion of children and young people into all aspects of the school curriculum.
• To attend and contribute to team meetings as required.
• To be aware of changing trends in treatment and promote Evidence Based Practice; embedding this into own specialist area of work in order to provide the highest standard of care to service users.
• Embedding legislative change and key developments relating to improved outcomes for children and young people with SLCN.
• To participate in clinical audit, service development activities and research programmes as required.
• To engage with continual professional development as identified through managerial and clinical supervision and appraisal, including attending training and courses as agreed.
• To comply with the Cognus Limited mandatory training requirements.
• As part of the therapies team to plan, deliver and evaluate training sessions for schools and educational providers.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Educated to degree level or equivalent.
• Relevant qualifications including registration with HCPC
• Ability to prioritise and deliver results to high standards.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Leads others by setting a positive example in line with company values and acts as a role model.
• Experience as a paediatric occupational therapist
• Adherence to RCOT and HCPC policies and procedures
• Is decisive with problem-solving skills.
• Is committed to safeguarding and protection of children.
• Honours and upholds the Companys Equal Opportunity Policy, Dignity at Work Policy, Safeguarding and Protection of Children, Health and Safety and Data Protection Policy at all times.

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.