School-based Lead Occupational Therapist - Band 7
Specialist SEND School in Central London
£44,000 - £49,000 per annum, permanent contract (term time only)
September 2026 start
*** Interviews are arranged ASAP ***
Are you an Occupational Therapist who is ready to lead? Or a clinically strong Band 6 who has been building towards that next step and needs the right environment to take it?
This is a permanent, term-time role at a well-established specialist school in central London, supporting neurodiverse young people aged 11 to 19. The school works with students who have autism, ADHD, dyspraxia, specific learning difficulties, and speech, language and communication needs. Many hold EHCPs. All have profiles that require genuine clinical thought, not formulaic intervention.
The therapy team here is integrated, respected, and well-supported. Occupational Therapists work alongside Speech and Language Therapists and Mental Health Practitioners as a genuine multidisciplinary team. Therapy is embedded into the school day at every level, from classroom support and joint planning with teachers to staff training and parent workshops. This is not a school where therapy happens in a room down the corridor. It happens everywhere.
The Lead OT Role
This is a leadership role with real clinical substance. You will hold a caseload of up to four classes while leading and developing OT provision across the school and mentoring junior members of the therapy team. Your timetable is structured and protected, with a minimum of 10 PPA sessions per week, clinical supervision every four to six weeks, and line management supervision every four weeks.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Leading and developing OT provision across the school
- Holding a clinical caseload of up to four classes
- Mentoring and supporting junior OT staff
- Delivering individual, paired, and group therapy sessions
- Completing standardised and observational assessments
- Contributing to IEPs and annual reviews
- Joint planning with class teachers every half term
- Leading staff training and parent workshops each term
- Parent contact and termly goal-setting
- Maintaining clinical notes within 24 hours of each session
The Young People
Your students will present with sensory processing differences, fine- and gross-motor difficulties, self-regulation challenges, executive function difficulties, and barriers to independence in daily life. Most have complex, layered profiles. Your role is to translate deep clinical understanding into strategies that work not just in therapy sessions, but across the whole school day and beyond the school gate.
Who This Role Suits
You are HCPC registered at Band 7, or a clinically strong Band 6 with solid paediatric or SEND experience and a clear ambition to move into leadership. You have experience working with young people with autism, sensory processing needs, or developmental coordination difficulties. You may already have experience mentoring or supervising junior therapists. If not, you have the clinical confidence and the drive to develop in that direction.
You think beyond the individual session. You understand that effective OT in a school setting requires collaboration, consistency, and a genuine commitment to being part of a wider team. School-based experience is helpful but not essential if your paediatric background is strong and your clinical reasoning is sound.
If you are interested in this Lead OT position, apply now or contact Heeji Moon at Parker Smith Inclusion.