Highly Specialist Children’s Occupational Therapist

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Job summary

Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist -Band 7 Enfield Children’s Services (Fern Special School) 0.5WTE

We are seeking a creative, friendly, and enthusiastic Occupational Therapist to join our established Children’s Therapy Team as a Highly Specialist Band 7 OT based at Fern Special School.

In this rewarding role, you will deliver occupational therapy to children and young people aged 5-16 with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs and Autism. Alongside clinical work, you will contribute to service development, audits, and staff training, helping to shape and enhance the quality of care we provide.

Although primarily school-based, you will be part of a wider, supportive OT service that includes therapists working across schools and community settings (19 team members). We pride ourselves on being a dynamic and welcoming team with high staff satisfaction, offering clinical leadership, Monthly in-service training, High-quality supervision and access to a wide range of internal and external training opportunities

We are looking for someone committed to occupation-focused, family-centred, and evidence-based practice.

Essential requirements:

  • Qualified Occupational Therapist
  • Experience working with children and/or in community, learning disabilities, autism, or SEMH settings

We are proud to be part of the Royal Free London North Mid NHS Trust, with excellent transport links to central London and Hertfordshire.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work as a highly specialist Band 7 Occupational Therapist within Fern Special School, providing occupational therapy input to children and young people aged 5-16 years with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs and Autism.

Fern School delivers a relational, inclusive, attachment-aware and trauma-informed approach to education. The OT role will be central in supporting pupils to access a sensory-informed, experiential curriculum adapted from the National Curriculum.

The post holder will:

  • Take a lead role in establishing and developing the OT provision within the school
  • Deliver targeted and specialist interventions aligned with EHCP outcomes
  • Work collaboratively with teaching staff, SLT, and play therapy services to support functional participation and engagement
  • Provide high-quality, child and family centred, occupation-focused assessment and intervention, supporting pupils to maximise their participation in education and daily school life.
  • Promote a whole-school approach to occupational performance
  • Contribute to and lead on aspects of planning, coordinating, delivering and evaluating the Occupational Therapy service within the school, including service development, clinical pathways, and quality improvement initiatives.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Registration

Essential

  • Degree or Diploma in Occupational Therapy
  • HCPC Registration as an Occupational Therapis
  • Evidence of ongoing Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Desirable

  • Postgraduate qualification in a relevant a
  • RCOT membership
  • Relevant specialist training (e.g. attachment, trauma-informed approaches, regulation strategies)

Experience

Essential

  • Significant post-qualification experience working with children and young people
  • Experience working with children with Autism and SEMH needs
  • Experience of managing a complex caseload
  • Experience working within EHCP processes and education settings

Desirable

  • Experience working in a special school setting
  • Experience working as a Band 7 or equivalent senior role
  • Experience contributing to or leading service development projects
  • Experience delivering interventions at universal, targeted and specialist levels

Knowledge

Essential

  • Knowledge of the SEND Code of Practice and EHCP processes
  • Knowledge of child development and occupational therapy practice in paediatrics
  • Knowledge of SEMH, Autism and associated needs
  • Understanding of safeguarding procedures and relevant legislation

Desirable

  • Knowledge of neuroaffirming practice
  • Knowledge of trauma-informed and attachment-aware practice
  • Knowledge of outcome measures and audit processes

Skills & Abilities

Essential

  • Ability to deliver occupation-focused assessment and intervention
  • Strong clinical reasoning and problem- solving skills
  • Ability to work autonomously and prioritise workload effectively
  • Excellent communication skills with children, families and professionals

Desirable

  • Ability to design and deliver training programmes
  • Skills in coaching and mentoring staff
  • Ability to lead service improvement initiatives
  • Experience in influencing whole-school practice

Personal Qualities

Essential

  • Compassionate, empathetic and childcentred approach
  • Resilient and able to work with complex and sometimes challenging situations
  • Flexible and adaptable to changing service demands

Desirable

  • Reflective practitioner with commitment to innovation

Other Requirements

Essential

  • Ability to travel between sites where required
  • Commitment to professional standards, confidentiality and safe practice

Desirable

  • Experience working across different service settings

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).

Closing Date: 26 July 2026

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.