Specialist Speech and Language Therapy Assistant

The starting salary for this position is 30,121 per annum for 36 hours per week, across 42 weeks of the year. The role is term-time, plus an additional 15 days per year. The full time equivalent for this role is 32,512.

Your office base will be in Woking although as a team we promote agile working.

The North West Surrey School SLT team is looking for a full time Specialist Speech and Language Therapy Assistant. The role involves working in our specialist and mainstream schools, supporting children to meet their communication potential, empowering school staff to confidently support communication needs, and taking part in service development work.

Rewards and Benefits

• Flexible working around core school hours with mobile and agile working solutions
• Comprehensive clinical supervision programme including a buddy, 1:1 meetings with line manager, extensive in house training programme and formal external training opportunities
• A mixed and varied caseload across settings and age groups
• Termly themed study days for the whole SALT team
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• 2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependants leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more

About the Team

The School-Aged Speech and Language Therapy Service is part of Surrey County Council's support for children with Additional Needs and Disabilities, working collaboratively in the Inclusion and Additional Needs team in Surrey's Children, Families and Lifelong Learning directorate, with other teams like Educational Psychology, and specialist teachers. The Surrey SLT service is a large team (over 160) of both qualified Therapists and non-qualified Therapy Assistants.

We have excellent supervision and CPD models plus a rolling in-house training programme. One of our Therapists was voted People's Choice in the Surrey Stars Awards receiving over 500 votes showing how well the service is regarded in the organisation!

About the Role

In this role you will work under the direction of Speech and Language Therapists in the team but will spend a large amount of the working week working autonomously within schools. You will take a lead role in the development and support of new or less experienced assistants in the team.

Your main duties in the role of Specialist Speech and Language Therapy Assistant will include:

• Working individually with a child / young person within a school / college to deliver therapy, review progress and suggest new targets in liaison with the link Therapist
• Giving feedback to parents on their child's progress
• Modelling strategies to school staff
• Problem solving with the class team around meeting children's needs
• Working with small groups, setting and reviewing group session plans
• Offering shadowing opportunities and peer support to less experienced SLTAs
• Leading Assistant meetings
• Taking part and leading on project work relating to Therapy Assistants to develop the Assistant team

Shortlisting Criteria

To be considered for shortlisting for interview for this position your application will clearly evidence:

• Experience of working with children and young people under the guidance of a Speech and Language Therapy team for at least 5 years
• Experience of working as an SLT Assistant in mainstream schools / colleges and specialist schools / centres
• Evidence of working independently and flexibly
• Evidence of using a range of communication approaches in mainstream and specialist schools
• Strong IT skills
• Evidence of supporting others

Surrey has both urban and rural areas and you will need to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK, access to a vehicle and be willing to travel to meet the demands of the role. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 13th October 2024 with interviews planned for 23rd and 24th October.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.

We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.