Speech and Language Therapist

About the role: Are you at the beginning of a thriving career in Speech and Language Therapy? Or perhaps you already have a wealth of experience and are keen to be part of a collaborative and highly experienced team?  

Milestone Academy has a fantastic opportunity and are seeking a specialist Speech & Language Therapist to join and enhance the work of their already established and successful team who provide therapy within an outstanding special educational needs environment. The department benefits from incredibly strong leadership and this is a great opportunity for a therapist who is looking to make a contribution to the already diverse therapy team within the academy. The successful candidate will be responsible for their own caseload and will work in partnership with colleagues to ensure delivery of a high quality service.

This role is ideal for those who have a real interest in working with children who have severe, profound and complex learning needs. Relevant training can be provided, particularly if you are seeking to gain experience in Dysphagia.

This role is full-time (37 hours per week) during Term Time plus 2 weeks inset. The actual salary offered for this position is £22,126 - £32,354 (£25,082 - £36,675 full-time equivalent), commensurate with experience. This is an ideal role for those who wish to take advantage of the school holidays.

Staff at Milestone Academy receive access to a great range of employment benefits from day one. Click here to view the current benefits package, and be mindful that the list is always growing. ​​​​​​​

We are very receptive to arranging visits or a phone conversation to discuss the opportunity further with those interested. You can arrange this by contacting Elizabeth Skilton (Therapy and Health Team Lead) on elizabeth.skilton@milestoneacademy.org.uk.

What are we looking for in you? As a Trust, we seek to recruit talented individuals that can not only help to build the success of our academies but also people that are engaging and passionate about what they do. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate/evidence the following:

• RCSLT recognised degree/diploma and a registered member of RCSLT
• Membership if the Health Professionals Council
• Experience of assessment and management of complex communication needs
• Experience of alternative and augmentative communication systems
• A commitment to multi-disciplinary/agency working
• Experience of working in a school setting (particularly special schools is desirable but not essential)

In return, we can offer:

• Clinical supervision
• Excellent CPD opportunities
• Dysphagia training (if required)
• The chance to join an Outstanding Special School
• The chance to be part of a wider successful multi-academy Trust, sharing best practice in every way possible​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Working at Milestone Academy: Milestone Academy is a large special school for pupils with Profound, Severe and Complex needs, and is part of Leigh Academies Trust. We currently have 385 pupils on roll aged between the ages of 2 and 19. The academy comprises a main site and four satellite provisions, each of which are based within other LAT mainstream academies. Milestone Academy has been judged as Outstanding by Ofsted at our last three inspections. Click here to view our website and learn more about Milestone Academy. 

Being part of Leigh Academies Trust: As of 1st September 2022, our Trust comprises 30 geographically organised academies (14 secondaries, 14 primaries and 2 special) educating 20,000 students, and employing 3,000 talented staff. The Trust is establishing four ‘clusters’ of academies: North Kent; Central Kent; South East London; Medway. In addition, the Trust is responsible for one of the region’s biggest initial teaching training organisations, a large teaching school hub and is an accredited apprenticeship provider. Our future plans are found in our Vision 2030 document available on our website.​​​​​​​

As part of Leigh Academies Trust, you will have ample opportunity to collaborate with your peers both within the academy and across the whole Trust. This is an important part of our vision as we know through experience that we perform better when we work together. You are supported to undertake regular self-development to continue your professional development and hopefully progress further within the organisation.

Our commitment to safeguarding: Leigh Academies Trust and all of our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our pupils, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We adopt a fair, robust and consistent recruitment process across all academies and business units which is inline with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. This includes online checks for shortlisted candidates - you can read more about this in our Recruitment Guidance. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, references, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check.

​​​​​​​Our commitment to equality and diversity: As a Trust, we are passionate about diversity and recognise that as individuals, we all bring something unique to the role regardless of any protected characteristics which is why we treat all of our people equally, without compromise. We are committed to providing equality and fairness throughout our recruitment and employment practices and not discriminating on any grounds.

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Based on the quality and quantity of applications received, Leigh Academies Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy sooner than the specified closing date. Applicants will be notified of this where possible. Therefore, early applications are encouraged.