Are you a qualified Occupational Therapist interested in working with secondary and college age students with special needs in the Hillingdon area of West London?

COVID-19 notice: Instead of face-to-face meetings, all initial interviews will be via telephone and we can guide you through submitting your documents online.

Tradewind are currently recruiting for a qualified Occupational Therapist to work within a therapy team at a Special Needs school in Hillingdon, West London. The role is full time and will start as soon as possible on a long term basis for the full academic year at least, until July 2021 and will most likely become permanent for the right candidate.

Essential requirements:

• You must hold a recognised Occupational Therapy OT qualification and be registered with the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council).
• Experience as an Occupational Therapist preferably within an educational setting for secondary aged students.
• Experience supporting young people with special educational needs, SEN.
• Enthusiastic, positive and friendly approach.
• Must have legal right to work in the UK.

The school is a Good Ofsted rated school providing for students aged 11-19 with EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans), Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD), Autistic Spectrum Conditions (Autism / ASC), Physical Impairments, Social Emotional Mental Health needs (SEMH), Communication Disorders and or Genetic Conditions.

The Occupational therapist will focus on promoting health and wellbeing of students through engaging them in tasks and occupations that students want and need to do. When pupils have with learning, emotional, psychological or physical difficulties, this can hinder their ability to grow, learn, socialize and play, resulting in them not coping with basic activities at school, such as concentrating in class or having the confidence to take part in playground games such as playing catch, which can be difficult, because 'fitting in' is so important to a child's self-esteem and happiness. Through assessment the occupational therapist aims to maximize student's development opportunities to support independence in everyday tasks, learning, and play and to access the national curriculum.

You will provide support through: Sensory sessions in the school's custom-made Sensory Integration Suite, as well as group work designed to help pupils understand their own sensory needs; Functional groupwork; Behavioural intervention, working alongside the teaching staff and in classrooms; Assessment and monitoring of fine and gross motor skills; Observation of other functional needs including eating and drinking (in conjunction with the Speech and Language Therapy team); Assessment and advice for any specialist seating needs; Assessment of mobility needs, such as wheelchair assessments.

The successful candidate will be working within an established multidisciplinary team, in an SEN secondary school so experience of working with children and young people with special educational needs including autistic spectrum disorder, global developmental delay, respiratory, neurological and neuromuscular pathologies is crucial. Candidates will work as part of the school team and specifically within the therapy team. There are many exciting and rewarding activities including group work, one to one therapy, assessment and class-based interventions, working in partnership with teaching staff, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and rehabilitation assistants.

The Multi disciplinary team, including teachers, speech and language therapists, physios, educational psychologists and parents etc. in which the successful candidate will be a part of, helps integrate clinical interventions across all aspects of the curriculum ensuring that pupils can access and engage in learning which will help them to reach their full potential. All therapy staff are supported by the MDT lead and by senior clinicians across the therapy disciplines so it is a very supportive and collaborative environment.

The school is easily accessible by a number of popular bus routes and is a short bus journey to 2 nearby tube and overground stations.

Click 'Apply Now' to be considered for this great position as an Occupational Therapist in Hillingdon, West London. Or for more information about the role, contact Tom Meredith on 0207 845 5450 option 3 or tom.meredith@twrecruitment.com.