Speech and Language Therapy Assistant - Pre-school

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; England; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in the UK is seeking a dedicated Speech and Language Therapist Assistant in Waltham Forest. The successful candidate will support children with speech and language development within a proactive and dynamic team. This role offers flexible working arrangements and emphasizes staff well-being, contribution to patient care, and personal development. Ideal for candidates with a relevant qualification and strong interpersonal skills. Join us in making a positive impact on families and children within the community.

Benefits

Flexible working opportunities

Supportive health and wellbeing initiatives

Access to employee assistance program

Qualifications

• Qualification or equivalent standard of literacy and numeracy relevant to preschool.
• Understanding of speech, language, and communication impairments in children.
• Developed perceptual skills for observing client’s communication.

Responsibilities

• Support delivery of care to children, young people, and families.
• Help deliver groups and interventions for families.
• Assist with resources and administration tasks.

Skills

Excellent interpersonal skills

Understanding of speech and language development

Observation and listening skills

Education

Relevant qualification to NVQ level 3 or BTEC

Job description

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

Are you seeking a role supporting children with their Speech and Language development alongside the paediatric speech and language therapy team in Waltham Forest?

At NELFT, we have the perfect opportunity for you. And we flex to suit you, let us know if we can accommodate a flexible working arrangement to suit your personal circumstances.

We are looking for a speech and language therapist assistant to join our pre-school speech and language therapy team.

Waltham Forest is a great place to live and work - a thriving community with an abundance of amenities and good transport links. You can find out more about the area and the services that we provide to local residents on our careers website –

Main duties of the job

Speech and Language Therapy assistants are core to the efficient service delivery that we provide to children, young people and their families.

As a Speech and Language Therapy assistant in our service, you will support the delivery of care to children, young people and their families.

You will be working within our well-established, supportive and dynamic pre-school team. You will be supporting with delivering groups and interventions to our families as well supporting with resources and administration tasks. There may also be opportunities to work in other areas of the service as needed. We are a service that constantly looks towards evidence base and welcome change.

Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop‑in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High‑CostArea Supplement This post also attracts payment for High‑Cost Area Supplement of 15% of basic salary, with a minimum of £4,551 and maximum of £5,735, pro rata for part time staff

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points based system

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person specification

AC as per Person Spec

Essential criteria

• Qualification or equivalent standard of literacy and numeracy relevant to working with pre school to NVQ level 3 or BTEC, gained through in‑service training, short courses and work experience

AC as per person spec

• Understanding of the development of speech, language and communication skills in children speech, language and communication impairments as part of a learning disability
• Excellent interpersonal skills including observation, listening and empathy

AC as per person Spec

• Developed perceptual and concentration skills for observing and responding to client’s speech, language and communication as appropriate

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT :

• A long‑standing and award‑winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term / chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.