Job summary
- Main area
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Grade
- Band 5-6 Run-Through
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (1.00 WTE)
- Job ref
- 220-WHT-3044
- Employer
- Whittington Health NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Northern Health Centre
- Town
- Islington
- Salary
- £35,964 - £53,134 per annum inclusive of HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 17/04/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Speech and Language Therapist (Band 5-6 Run-Through)
Band 5-6 Run-Through
Covid-19 Vaccination
Getting vaccinated, and getting a booster, remains the best defence against COVID-19.
We encourage and support staff to get COVID-19 vaccine and a booster dose as and when they are eligible.
Please note in order to progress your application, your data will be processed by our 3rd party recruitment providers – North London Partners Shared Service, who conduct recruitment activities on behalf of Whittington Health NHS Trust.
For our current apprenticeship vacancies, please go to https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship and use Keyword ‘Whittington’
By applying for this role, you accept in the event you are successful that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which is aimed at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers.
Job overview
If you’re passionate about shaping children’s communication in schools and thrive in a dynamic environment, we have the perfect opportunity for you!
Join us in Islington as a Band 5 Mainstream Schools Speech and Language Therapist and help transform the educational experience for children with speech, language, and communication needs.
Whether newly qualified or experienced, you can progress to Band 6 in 24 months, provided agreed competencies are met.
What you can expect:
- Supportive Caseloads: Manageable caseload with dedicated time for clinical and non-clinical duties, especially in your first year.
- Collaborative Environment: Work alongside a skilled multidisciplinary team, including school staff, outreach staff, and Occupational and Physiotherapists.
- Development Opportunities: Ongoing clinical supervision, access to a cross-borough support group, and the chance to build skills and learn from highly experienced and talented therapists across primary and secondary schools.
- Positive Team Feedback: Don’t just take our word for it—our team loves the supportive atmosphere! "I felt ready for the next step with the fantastic support of a friendly team!" (current staff member)
Are you ready for a strong start to your career while making a difference in schools? We’d love for you to join us!
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be responsible for delivering a comprehensive service to children and young people attending mainstream schools, including assessment, diagnosis and intervention for individual children and young people as well as providing a support service to schools themselves. The post holder is an autonomous practitioner and is responsible for organising and managing their own caseload in up to 5 mainstream schools (primary and secondary), working from a central base. They will work with children and young people with a wide range of speech, language and communication needs including Developmental Language Disorders, Selective Mutism, Speech difficulties and children with language disorders in association with conditions such as Autistic Spectrum Condition, Down's Syndrome and ADHD.
Find out what it is like to work in our friendly, supportive teams which span hospital and community settings across vibrant and diverse North Central London first hand, visit http://www.whittington.nhs.uk/CYPrecruitment (you may have to copy and paste this link into your browser) to hear from some of our current staff about why they chose to join and stay at Whittington Health.
Working for our organisation
Medical services have been delivered on the Whittington Hospital site for over 500 years. On 1st April 2011, Whittington Health was launched as a new Integrated Care Organisation (ICO) comprising The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust, NHS Islington and NHS Haringey. The Whittington and the community health services in Islington and Haringey are award winning organisations, delivering acute and community based health services to a population of 443,000 people. The organisation is the biggest employer in the area, with over 4,500 staff; delivering healthcare not only on the acute hospital site which has 420 beds, but also from a variety of other community based health centres and through visits to patients homes across the boroughs to address the health needs of the local population. Whittington Health also works with other health, social care and voluntary sector partners to support patients and service users from their initial appointment whether it be with a community health team or at the hospital, all the way through to treatment and tailored after care. We are one of the three main teaching campuses for the Royal Free and University College Medical School. Our ICARE (Innovation, Compassion, Accountability, Respect and Excellence) Values not only help us shape what we do, but also how we do it and why. They are fundamental to the way we do business and care for our patients. For more information, please access the following link: https://www.whittington.nhs.uk/
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. To demonstrate basic clinical expertise in the assessment, treatment and management of language and communication difficulties in school aged children providing appropriate intervention and evaluating outcomes
2. To demonstrate clinical effectiveness drawing on evidence based practice and outcome measures
3. To demonstrate highly developed auditory and perceptual skills in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients/clients
4. To make basic differential diagnoses and clinical decisions based on evidence from assessment, seeking support and advice from a supervisor as appropriate
5. To develop knowledge and skills in a range of language and communication difficulties in school aged children with training, support and supervision from clinical supervisor as appropriate.
6. To develop clear care plans based on best practice
7. To provide advice to others regarding the management and care of children with language and communication difficulties
8. To communicate complex condition related information from assessment to clients, carers, families and members of the multi-disciplinary team/other professions, demonstrating empathy and ensuring that effective communication is achieved, particularly where barriers to understanding exist
9. To work closely with clients, carers and families in order to agree plans of management
10. To deal with initial complaints sensitively, avoiding escalation where possible
11. To form productive relationships with others who may be under stress and/or have challenging communication difficulties.
12. To employ excellent communication skills
13. To develop skills in motivating clients and /or carers to engage in the therapeutic process
14. To maintain sensitivity at all times to the emotional needs of clients and their carers in particular when imparting potentially distressing information regarding the nature of the client’s difficulties and implications of the same
15. To develop the ability to manage children with challenging behaviours employing appropriate management strategies
16. To monitor and review the progress of clients against the targets set and agreed, seeking support from clinical supervisor as appropriate.
17. To demonstrate the ability to reflect on practice with peers/clinical supervisor based on research and evidence based practice.
18. To develop the ability to reflect on auditory, visual and kinaesthetic aspects of client’s communication and to identify appropriate strategies to facilitate and enhance communicative effectiveness
19. To be aware of legal requirements relating to the provision of a specialist speech and language therapy service, seeking support and advice as appropriate.
20. To maintain up to date and accurate case notes and write reports that meet departmental standards and are in line with local trust policy, and RCSLT professional standards, with support as appropriate
21. To develop an awareness of current policies and practice in education
22. To manage and prioritise a defined caseload and workload independently
23. To contribute to multi-agency assessments, including the statutory educational assessment procedure, as required, seeking support and supervision as required
24. To negotiate with carers, clients and others around individual case management
25. To develop negotiation skills in the management of conflict across a range of situations, recognising potential breakdown and conflict when it occurs, seeking advice and support to resolve
26. To ensure that clients are referred to other services as appropriate, in consultation with manager or supervisor
27. To develop a working knowledge of the principles of Clinical Governance and their application to professional practice. This will include compliance with / adherence to service and team plans and policies, National and Local Guidelines and RCSLT Professional and Clinical guidelines.
28. To develop a working knowledge of relevant procedures including: Safeguarding Children, SEN procedures, Working with Vulnerable Adults and other legal frameworks.
29. To be accountable for own professional action, recognising professional boundaries and working within defined departmental and national protocols/policies and professional code of conduct, seeking advice as appropriate
30. To work independently accessing appraisal within an Individual Performance Framework at pre-determined intervals
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- BSc. Speech Path or equivalent
- HPC licence to practise, and eligible for the full RCSLT register
- Successful completion of specialist short courses relevant to the field including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), autistic spectrum condition (ASC) and education practice
Desirable criteria
- Basic Counselling
Knowledge and experience
Essential criteria
- knowledge and experience of a specialist range of assessment tools and procedures to evaluate a wide range of language and communication needs in mainstream schools for both primary and secondary aged pupils.
- knowledge and experience of the key characteristics leading to a specialist differential diagnosis of a wide range of language and communication difficulties
- knowledge and experience Of a specialist range of therapeutic interventions relevant to primary and secondary age children with a wide range of language and communication needs demonstrating the evidence base for these approaches
- knowledge and experience The application of specialist knowledge of local cultural, linguistic & demographic factors to the management of a school aged caseload
- knowledge of multi-disciplinary team approaches
- knowledge and experience of working with children with a wide range of language and communication needs in mainstream schools
Desirable criteria
- knowledge and experience of delivering specialist training to a range of audiences
Personal qualities
Essential criteria
- Excellent spoken and written communication skills
Other
Essential criteria
- Completion of post qualification registration
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Sally-Anne Fraser
- Job title
- Clinical Lead SLT
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07827 109 216
If you have problems applying, contact
- Address
-
WHT
- Telephone
- If you have any queries, please contact NLPSS Recruitment Helpdesk tel. 020 3758 2060
List jobs with Whittington Health NHS Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors