Speech and Language Therapist (Band 5 / Band 6) – Permanent – September 2026 – Mole Valley, Surrey
£32,000 – £40,000 per annum (dependent on NHS band and experience)
Permanent - Term Time Only
There is something specific that happens when a Speech and Language Therapist has worked in schools long enough. You stop being surprised when your recommendations are not followed. You factor in the lag between assessment and implementation. You manage your expectations about what the setting around you can realistically do with what you know. You do not stop caring. You just learn to work around the gap. This role is for the SaLT who no longer wants to work around the gap.
The School
This specialist independent school in Mole Valley, Surrey, supports pupils aged 7 to 16 with Autism, ADHD, and co-occurring Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. Many of these young people have spent years in settings where their communication differences were misread as defiance, disengagement, or lack of ability. The school understands what is underneath. Staff are trained to recognise how communication difficulties present in a young person who is also anxious, dysregulated, or carrying the weight of repeated failure in previous settings.
Classes are small. The school day is built around predictability and safety. Leadership is visible and understands the clinical work. This is not a setting where you have to justify why communication matters. It is a setting where that understanding is already there, and your job is to build on it.
The Therapy Team
You will be part of an established therapy team alongside an OT Lead and an Occupational Therapist. Therapy here is not a separate provision. It runs through how the school thinks about every pupil, every day. Your strategies will inform how Teachers frame instructions, how Teaching Assistants respond when a pupil shuts down, and how the school approaches a child who communicates through behaviour because words have not always felt safe.
If you are a Band 5 SaLT, you will develop your clinical practice within a team that takes professional growth seriously. If you are a Band 6 SaLT, you will lead your caseload with genuine autonomy and have real scope to shape how communication support develops across the school.
The Role
What this position asks of you day to day:
- Holding a genuine caseload of pupils with Autism, ADHD, and co-occurring SEMH needs, with enough time to know each young person properly
- Delivering individual and group interventions built around each pupil's specific communication profile, not a standardised programme
- Working closely with the OT team, Teachers, and Teaching Assistants so that communication strategies are understood and applied consistently across the school day
- Training and advising staff on how to adapt their language, their pace, and their approach for pupils with communication differences
- Contributing to EHCP reviews, producing clear and purposeful written reports, and building direct relationships with families who have often waited a long time for a setting that gets their child
- Developing a real understanding of each pupil over time, because this is a permanent role, and consistency is built in from the start
Who This Role Suits
Experience in a school setting is not essential. What matters is that you have worked with children or young people with Autism, ADHD, or SEMH needs and that you understand how communication difficulties and emotional dysregulation intersect. Candidates coming from NHS community paediatric roles, specialist residential settings, or early intervention services are all worth a conversation. If you are the kind of SaLT who wants to see the full arc of a pupil's development rather than deliver a block of sessions and then move on, this role is designed for you.
Interested? To find out more or to have an informal conversation about this role, contact Heeji Moon at Parker Smith Inclusion on 0203 011 4848 or visit www.psinclusion.co.uk.