Job summary
We are looking for an experienced Speech and Language Therapist to lead the Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) programme in Islington.
Following a successful pilot in Barnet, the programme is now expanding to Islington and Enfield. ELSEC is a pilot project, funded by NHS England and the Department for Education, aiming to test the impact of early identification and support for children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) in Early Years and Primary settings.
You'll bring specialist SLT expertise to guide the implementation of ELSEC, a Department for Education-funded pilot running until March 2026 (with the possibility of extended funding). The programme supports mainstream schools in identifying and supporting children with SLCN. Working closely with the Clinical Coordinator, you'll oversee the delivery of universal and targeted support by a team of Speech and Language Therapy Assistants (SLTAs), aiming to build long-term confidence and capacity within schools.
The post holder will work in Islington within the Mainstream Schools SLT team. Islington is an inner London borough which is vibrant and diverse. We are renowned for being a friendly team committed to innovation and enabling a supportive and inclusive environment
To learn more about the programme, please visit the Department for Education website: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/earlier-support-for-speech-and-language-for-20000-children
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be responsible for developing and maintaining a high-quality, evidence-based service that is child-centred and collaborative, involving schools, families, and other partner agencies. A key part of the role involves supporting innovation in practice - trialling new approaches to improve the early identification of SLCN and increasing access to school-based support for children who need it.
Additionally, the post holder will provide supervision, support and training to two SLTA's, ensuring their work is aligned with the programme's aims and delivered to a high standard.
About us
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see attached Job description for further details on role and responsibilities.
1. Maintaining a high level of professional competence and demonstrating highly specialist clinical expertise in the assessment, treatment and management within specialist area. 2. To offer clinical leadership support to the ELSEC team including therapy assistants.3. To develop innovative therapy services to improve access to speech and language therapy in primary schools.4. To work with colleagues in the service managing the universal service to ensure smooth transition for CYP across the pathways when required and understanding of all pathways for the team.5. To develop systems and processes to support the delivery of the service within health and education settings within the borough.6. To support the clinical management of the ELSEC team, ensuring induction, clinical supervision, recruitment, appraisals and development of staff and providing expert guidance to other professionals in Health, Social Care and Education7. To input in multidisciplinary team meetings to develop joined up packages of care for children with a range of needs8. To support the delivery of interventions in primary school settings.9. To develop effective and evidence-based intervention to support SEND reforms, EHC outcomes and clinical care pathways for children and young people with a range of needs.10. To develop effective working relationship with parents/carers, schools and key stakeholders and to seek views to provide a responsive and needs-led service.11. Assist relevant teams in the management of project tasks in line with the Service and Quality Improvement strategy.12. To update and deliver appropriate training/CPD packages to the workforce and therapy professionals working with children with SEN and complex needs.13. To ensure that service models are developed in order to meet the needs of children with additional needs, and their families.14. To maintain up to date and accurate case notes and write reports reflecting highly specialist knowledge, ensuring that they meet departmental standards and are in line with local Trust Policy, and professional standards.15. To be responsible for organising and prioritising own and others workload across the team.16. To offer clinical supervision to staff within the ELSEC Pathway.17. To have organisation knowledge relating to Trust protocols and procedures and adhere to these.18. To be responsible for providing accurate records of information required by the Trust for audit purposes.19. To deal with initial complaints sensitively, avoiding escalation where possible and to gather information for the draft response as required.20. To employ excellent communication skills21. To demonstrate skills in motivating clients and /or carers to engage in the therapeutic process.22. To ensure effective risk management at team level by accident/incident reporting, assessing and controlling risk and ensuring residual risks are escalated to the clinical coordinator.23. To be able to be flexible within the service and as required by the Head of Service.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see attached Job description for further details on role and responsibilities.
1. Maintaining a high level of professional competence and demonstrating highly specialist clinical expertise in the assessment, treatment and management within specialist area. 2. To offer clinical leadership support to the ELSEC team including therapy assistants.3. To develop innovative therapy services to improve access to speech and language therapy in primary schools.4. To work with colleagues in the service managing the universal service to ensure smooth transition for CYP across the pathways when required and understanding of all pathways for the team.5. To develop systems and processes to support the delivery of the service within health and education settings within the borough.6. To support the clinical management of the ELSEC team, ensuring induction, clinical supervision, recruitment, appraisals and development of staff and providing expert guidance to other professionals in Health, Social Care and Education7. To input in multidisciplinary team meetings to develop joined up packages of care for children with a range of needs8. To support the delivery of interventions in primary school settings.9. To develop effective and evidence-based intervention to support SEND reforms, EHC outcomes and clinical care pathways for children and young people with a range of needs.10. To develop effective working relationship with parents/carers, schools and key stakeholders and to seek views to provide a responsive and needs-led service.11. Assist relevant teams in the management of project tasks in line with the Service and Quality Improvement strategy.12. To update and deliver appropriate training/CPD packages to the workforce and therapy professionals working with children with SEN and complex needs.13. To ensure that service models are developed in order to meet the needs of children with additional needs, and their families.14. To maintain up to date and accurate case notes and write reports reflecting highly specialist knowledge, ensuring that they meet departmental standards and are in line with local Trust Policy, and professional standards.15. To be responsible for organising and prioritising own and others workload across the team.16. To offer clinical supervision to staff within the ELSEC Pathway.17. To have organisation knowledge relating to Trust protocols and procedures and adhere to these.18. To be responsible for providing accurate records of information required by the Trust for audit purposes.19. To deal with initial complaints sensitively, avoiding escalation where possible and to gather information for the draft response as required.20. To employ excellent communication skills21. To demonstrate skills in motivating clients and /or carers to engage in the therapeutic process.22. To ensure effective risk management at team level by accident/incident reporting, assessing and controlling risk and ensuring residual risks are escalated to the clinical coordinator.23. To be able to be flexible within the service and as required by the Head of Service.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree or equivalent in Speech & Language Therapy
- HCPC registration
- Completion of CPD relevant to the post or membership of relevant CENs e.g. DLD, Autism, Speech Sound Disorders
Knowledge and experience
Essential
- Experience of overseeing supervision of therapists, undergraduate students and assistants
- Understanding of the roles of other professionals and the principles of partnership working with key stakeholders in the service areas
- Of working with CYP with a range of SLCN within a school environment
- Leadership and change management experience
- Working within an MDT or multi-agency
- Understanding of all aspects of clinical governance and experience of developing audits
- Knowledge of a broad range of assessment tools relevant to the specialist client group
- In depth knowledge of a range of therapeutic interventions and ability to compare and contrast relative benefits and outcomes
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Highly developed communication skills with ability to deal with sensitive and contentious matters at an individual and group level
- Excellent team development skills
- Demonstrate high levels of computer literacy to enable effective data collection, report and document writing and presentation
- Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills
Personal qualities
Essential
- Ability to motivate, teach, empower and advocate for CYP
- Able to work with flexibility
- Able to work under pressure and to deadlines
- Highly proactive, self-directed with an innovative approach and a desire to promote clinical excellence
Other
Essential
- To be able to travel efficiently throughout the area
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree or equivalent in Speech & Language Therapy
- HCPC registration
- Completion of CPD relevant to the post or membership of relevant CENs e.g. DLD, Autism, Speech Sound Disorders
Knowledge and experience
Essential
- Experience of overseeing supervision of therapists, undergraduate students and assistants
- Understanding of the roles of other professionals and the principles of partnership working with key stakeholders in the service areas
- Of working with CYP with a range of SLCN within a school environment
- Leadership and change management experience
- Working within an MDT or multi-agency
- Understanding of all aspects of clinical governance and experience of developing audits
- Knowledge of a broad range of assessment tools relevant to the specialist client group
- In depth knowledge of a range of therapeutic interventions and ability to compare and contrast relative benefits and outcomes
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Highly developed communication skills with ability to deal with sensitive and contentious matters at an individual and group level
- Excellent team development skills
- Demonstrate high levels of computer literacy to enable effective data collection, report and document writing and presentation
- Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills
Personal qualities
Essential
- Ability to motivate, teach, empower and advocate for CYP
- Able to work with flexibility
- Able to work under pressure and to deadlines
- Highly proactive, self-directed with an innovative approach and a desire to promote clinical excellence
Other
Essential
- To be able to travel efficiently throughout the area
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
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 (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
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 (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
