Therapy Assistant

Therapy Assistant

Location: Aurora Cedars, Wolverhampton

Contract Type: Term Time Only, Permanent

Hours: Full-time, 40 hours per week

Salary: £12.37 p/hr to £13.49 p/hr depending on experience (annual salary £22,102 to £24,103) 

Closing Date: Thursday 24^th April

Interview Date: Wednesday 30^th April

The Aurora Group

The Aurora Group is an innovative provider of education and care for children, young people and adults with special educational needs and disabilities.  It is an exciting time to be part of Aurora, and this is a unique career opportunity to be instrumental in the development of a new school and to make your mark on our growing services. 

Aurora Cedars School in Wolverhampton will offer a bespoke education provision for up to 80 pupils aged 5-19 who have ASC/SEMH needs.  The curriculum is creative and personalised for the pupils to ensure that we provide them with the best opportunities to succeed.  

The Headteacher is looking for fun, passionate, dedicated, and driven staff to help support her vision for the pupils and the school environment.  She is committed to offering a truly unique workplace environment, embedded with a supportive culture, positive ethos, strong teamwork, and personal drive, with further career opportunities as both the school and Aurora, as a company, grows.      

We are currently looking for a Therapy Assistant to join our new school.

The main purpose of the role:

The post holder will implement and review therapy interventions as identified by the Therapy Team, through assessment and as set out as part of an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), to enable students to fulfil their potential in all aspects of their lives.  These will include occupational therapy interventions as well as sensory and creative activities such as therapeutic art activities. Speech and Language interventions and psychology interventions as an when required

Key duties:

• Enable students to regulate the impacts their sensory and emotional needs have on them
• Enable students to develop SaLT strategies to help support them accessing education and society
• Support staff in an integrated way to support the meeting of targets and monitoring of progress in sensory development and SaLT development
• Monitor and report on OT, SaLT and Psychology input within the classrooms to ensure a rich clinical approach is available as part of our core offer for all students
• Keep detailed records of interventions and outcomes

A Full and detailed Job Description is available to view here:  Therapy Assistant JD Aurora Cedars.docx

Qualifications

• OT, SaLT and/or Psychology training
• Recognised Level 2 qualifications in English and Maths 

Knowledge and Experience

• Supporting individual development and care plans and assisting individuals in accordance with their needs and wishes, particularly their mobility, physical management and postural management and speech and language needs.
• Clear understanding of relevant protection procedures and health and safety procedures
• Experience in working with young people with sensory and physical health needs in an eduational setting.
• Knowledge of the roles of other professionals in health, social and education setting.
• Knowledge of legislation relevant to Occupational Therapy, SaLT, Psychology, education and social care.
• Knowledge of the National Curriculum and school settings is desirable.

Skills and Behaviours

• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, including report writing.                          
• A creative and adaptable approach to work.                                                               
• Ability to apply and evaluate individual treatment programmes.
• Ability to form good working relationships with a wide variety of people.
• Ability to keep accurate notes.
• Patience, determination to secure the very best for our students, and a positive attitude.
• A pragmatic approach to problem solving.

What’s on offer?

• Training and Development

Within Aurora, we strongly believe that learning and development should not be limited to just the children and young people we support.  We offer wide range of programmes and opportunities to all our employees to improve your skills and further your career. 

• Save money on your bills!!

With the cost of living rising we have a fantastic benefit through Perkbox to help with cutting costs and help make your money go further.  Perkbox is a free app for you to use on the go wherever you are.  You can get deals and discounts to save money on things like your weekly food bill, phone plans, internet, eating out, gym memberships, insurance and more.  You can also use Perkbox for our cycle to work scheme and car scheme. 

• Competitive Pay and Reward

Every year we compare the market rates of pay and rewards to insure they are comparable or better to other similar organisations.  We also offer Enhanced Annual Leave, Company Sick Pay, Enhanced Pension and Life Assurance.

• UK Health Cash Plan

This plan can help cover your day to day healthcare expenditure such as optician and dental bills.  You and your children are covered on this plan and you can also choose to upgrade and add a partner to enjoy the benefits with you.

• Employee Assistance Programme

Your health and wellbeing is very important to us and we have support available on a wide variety of issues, helping you with online tools, information and via a freephone counselling service available 24/7. 

• Refer a friend for £1,000

We’ll reward you for recommending friends and family to come and join the company (*terms apply)

How to apply?

Please complete an online application form in full, remembering to include all employment and education details.  If you need any assistance or would like any more information please contact Karen in the Aurora Group Recruitment Team at karen.barnfield@the-aurora-group.com

Successful applicants will be subject to pre-employment safeguarding checks including an enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) check.

The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Aurora Group is therefore permitted to ask job applicants to declare all convictions and cautions (including those which are "spent" unless they are "protected" under the DBS filtering rules) in order to assess their suitability to work with children.

The Aurora Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children and young adults in our care and is a disability confident and equal opportunities employer.

This advert could be taken down at any point in time without prior notice if the position is filled. 

Please note that candidates that are shortlisted might be subject to an online search.  

If you are successful at interview there may be delays in us being able to offer you the post if we are unable to verify your ID in person at interview.     

Please note that shortlisted candidates might be subject to an online search.