Job Description

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Looking for an opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of pupils with severe autism? Look no further! Chatten Free School, a local authority funded special needs free school in the Witham (Essex) area, is seeking an Occupational Therapist to join their amazing team.

As an Occupational Therapist at Chatten Free School, you will work in a supportive environment with a smaller caseload, allowing for regular client contact and the opportunity to develop specialist skills in supporting severely autistic children. The school is part of the Hope Learning Community (HLC), a fantastic group of SEND schools in Essex.

At Chatten Free School, you'll have the chance to work with incredible pupils and witness the changes and development that can occur when a multi-professional team work together in a truly synergistic style. The school uses a consistent, individualised, and multi-professional approach to ensure that pupils leave as independent as possible, equipped with socially significant skills to access the world around them in a meaningful way.

Role overview:
The post holder will be responsible for delivering occupational therapy across the school. They will ensure there is high quality and effective support for pupils and those involved with them. The post holder will be expected to work closely with school leaders, school staff, parents and carers, our multi-disciplinary team and other professionals both in school and out.

Job Purpose:
· To provide and maintain comprehensive OT provision including using a Sensory Integration support when appropriate

· To support and train other staff in order for them to understand pupils' sensory needs and additional OT needs and to provide appropriate support.

· To provide functional assessment of children with special needs and disabilities and deliver individualised intervention aimed at maximising function.

· To be responsible for a defined case load, working with access to internal supervision and to keep up to date with current practice and professional development.

· Assessing pupils' needs and initiating treatment plans relevant to their needs taking account the latest evidenced-based practice and published research;

· Managing pupils' intervention, including goal setting and outcomes evaluation; working in line with professional and school standards, protocols and procedures;

· Accepting clinical responsibility and organising this effectively and efficiently with regard to clinical priorities and use of time.

· Being highly skilled in a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools to communicate effectively with children of all ages and parents/guardians.

· To ensure Continuing Professional Development is achieved in line within RCOT and HCPC.

· Provide training and INSET to other school staff including the development of online learning modules.

· To be available to offer expert clinical advice to school staff, members of the multi-agency team, and parents, in relation to pupil's sensory needs and improved participation at school by:

· continually up-dating your knowledge on evidenced-based practices related to children on the Autism Spectrum

· evaluating your own practices and regularly reflecting on the intervention provided contributing to developing appropriate goals with teaching staff

· contributing to Individual Plans, Annual Reviews and other Multidisciplinary meetings about individuals or groups of pupils

Please note: The duties and responsibilities of this post may vary from time to time according to the changing needs of the school. This job description may be reviewed at the discretion of the Head of School in the light of those changing requirements.

Personal and professional conduct
All staff are expected to behave in accordance with professional standards and the standards outlined in the Hope Learning Community (HLC) code of conduct and any other HLC policies and documents.

Information about the School

We are a specialist day free school in Witham, Essex working with children and young people who are severely affected by their autism and associated learning difficulties. Our pupils are ages 4-19. Most of our pupils are pre-vocal or in the early stages of developing communicative skills.

We believe that through a consistent and individualised curriculum, using effective and evidence based learning techniques we can ensure that our pupils leave us as independent as possible and with life-long socially significant skills which will enable them to access the world around them in a rich and meaningful way.

Our primary vision for Chatten pupils is: Happiness, Independence and Respect.

We have high expectations of our pupils and believe that they can achieve great things. Our primary focus is to provide all our pupils with an effective form of communication which they can use throughout their lives. We also aim to teach them important tolerance, life and academic skills which will be functional in their real lives beyond school.

Chatten provision includes access to individualised curriculums based on input in the areas of; applied behaviour analysis (ABA), speech and language therapy (SALT), occupational therapy (OT) and qualified teacher (QTS) level educational interventions. We use evidence based interventions and monitor progress meticulously to ensure that methods are effective for the pupil.

We are very excited to be able to offer some amazing facilities at our school which are outlined in the pages on specialist areas.

Most importantly of all we will have a staff team who all share the same vision for our school and your children. Our strongest shared desire: to enrich our pupils lives with the shared aim of Happiness, Independence and Respect.

To learn more about our school visit our website.