Occupational Therapist

£37,602 - £45,426 (including paid school holidays) + excellent benefits

Those Huge Small Victories

Our clinicians are fulfilled by the idea of affecting even the smallest positive changes in our young people, so we celebrate the little things.

Get out what you put in

This role is based at Lakeside School for 3-days-per-week, covering a maternity leave until June 2026.

Lakeside School is an independent, specialist day school providing high quality education for boys and girls. Based in Liverpool, the school meets the needs of pupils with special educational needs including ADHD, autism, speech, language & communication difficulties and social & emotional difficulties.

Our clinicians are a crucial part of the most joined-up model in SEND. Across all of our specialist schools and children’s homes, we provide unrivalled levels of clinical support, both in terms of our expertise and breadth of provision. Our young people present with a complexity of need including developmental trauma, neuro-developmental conditions and special educational needs.

As part of a multi-disciplinary clinical team you will be supporting educational and residential colleagues to provide therapeutic living and learning environments and, based on clinical assessment and formulation, offer individualised interventions and engagement to our young people.

Our Occupational Therapists work collaboratively within our schools and children’s homes, this ensures that therapeutic support permeates every aspect of the education, care and support we offer all of our children and young people. You will provide consultation, workshops, training and guidance to the educational and residential teams around our children.

What we do for you

We know you’re going to do great things. For your hard work and commitment, we reward you with the best salary and benefits package in the sector. With us, you’ll get to make a genuine difference to the lives of our young people – plus you’ll get:

• Training: A full induction and on the job training

• Holiday: You’ll work hard at WG, so you’ll be rewarded with full school holidays including bank holidays

• Clinical Development: If career growth and professional advancement is your thing, we provide a leading programme of clinical learning and development

• Flexible benefits: meaning you can increase/decrease benefits such as life insurance – check out our benefits here

• Wellbeing: a host of wellbeing tools and advice including employee assistance

• Medical cover so you can claim back the cost of things like an opticians or dentist appointment and a host of high-street discounts

• Beautiful working environments with the very best facilities – check out our schools here

• A recommend a friend scheme that offers a £1,000 bonus every time

Bring your whole self to work

Our young people come from all walks of life, diverse backgrounds and with different needs – and our workforce reflects that diversity, so that our teams can engage, encourage and inspire our young people to be themselves. The kind of person we’re looking for will:

• Be a qualified Occupational Therapist registered with the HCPC

• Have experience and be skilled in delivering therapeutic interventions for children and young people with complex needs

• Need experience of supporting teams around a child or young person to ensure they are being provided with clinically informed living and learning environments and experiences

• Be a confident, engaging and effective, model, guide, leader and trainer

• Be highly organised and ready to take the initiative

• Be committed to ensuring the best outcomes for young people

This is a great opportunity to change young lives and have a positive impact on their future. Embedded within our living and learning environments you will be offered the support, resource and platform for you to do great things. You’ll benefit from supervision, a clinical development programme and access to a 220+ strong team of multi-disciplinary clinical colleagues who will be with you every step of the way.

Interested in joining us?

At Witherslack Group, inclusion is part of who we are. We’re committed to creating an environment where everyone feels respected, valued and that they truly belong.

As a specialist provider of education and care for children and young people with special educational needs, we understand the importance of embracing individuality and championing difference- especially when it comes to neurodiversity. We celebrate diverse perspectives, lived experiences, and the unique strengths that each person brings to our community.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, and abilities. We are proud to be recognised as an inclusive employer and are committed to making our recruitment and workplace practices inclusive and accessible. If you need any adjustments to support you through the recruitment process or in the workplace, we’ll be there every step of the way.

By building a diverse and inclusive team, we’re better able to support the children, young people and families we serve and ensure every member of our team can thrive, grow, and be their authentic self.

The Witherslack Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of its young people. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check (we will cover the cost) and an online search. We are an equal opportunities employer welcoming applications from all sections of the community.

For a full job description and person specification, please click here.

To view our ex-offenders policy please click here.

To view our Child Protection Policy, please visit the 'Parents and Carers' section of this School/Learning centre. You can find all our Schools here.

Special Education / Careers in Care / Careers in Special Education / Working with Children / SEMH / SEN / ASD