Abingdon House School is an independent day school for children aged 5–19 with special educational needs including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and associated social communication profiles. We deliver a mainstream-style environment with a fully integrated programme of education, therapy, pastoral support, and personal development.
You’ll be joining a multidisciplinary team of therapists and support staff at Abingdon House School — at the Prep School, this is made up of two OTs, two SaLTs, and one physiotherapist; at the Senior School, a team of three OTs, three SaLTs, and one physiotherapist.
We are proud of our integrated, multidisciplinary approach
At AHS, our holistic approach supports progress in academic studies, communication, independence and wellbeing. Every student follows a personalised pathway and benefits from therapeutic support throughout the day, delivered by a multidisciplinary team including teachers, therapists, and pastoral practitioners.
We are proud to be an ISA-accredited and Google Reference School. Abingdon House is inspected by both CReSTeD and the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), and we were recently awarded ISI’s highest accolade, “a significant strength”, for our highly effective interdisciplinary practice and the successful integration of therapeutic approaches into our students’ learning.
The role at a glance
• This will be a full time role
• You’ll be at our Senior School campus, working with students aged 11-18
• You’ll be based in Marylebone, Central London
• You will be a key member of the middle leadership team, reporting to the Assistant Headteacher responsible for therapy and pastoral provision. You will lead the delivery of high-quality speech and language therapy services that support the school’s integrated approach to education, therapy, and personal development.
Sponsorship opportunities
The Cavendish Sponsorship Programme
We are able to sponsor talented, dedicated therapists from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and America through the Cavendish Sponsorship Programme.
Once in a role, you will have the opportunity to upskill in a pathway suited to your professional interests. Within your visa, there will be scope to move into a new role at any one of our sites as you progress, if a suitable position becomes available.
Key responsibilities
The main aspects of this role are:
• Support the strategic development of the school’s SaLT provision and contribute to wider decision-making.
• Line manage the SaLT team, including supervision, performance reviews, and professional development.
• Oversee caseload allocation, workload planning, and therapy resources.
• Deliver SaLT training and CPD to staff across the school.
• Work collaboratively with therapy leads, SENCos and middle leaders to promote a multidisciplinary approach.
• Build strong links with external agencies, commissioners, and professional networks.
• Model evidence-based practice and encourage reflective practice within the team.
• Provide direct speech and language therapy to students.
• Plan, deliver, and evaluate therapeutic and educational programmes.
• Develop and deliver the communication curriculum for whole-class sessions.
• Set and monitor communication targets within pupils’ IEPs, working with parents and teaching staff.
• Adapt resources and learning environments to improve access for students with communication needs.
• Assess, record and report on pupil progress, including annual review contributions and intervention records.
• Uphold safeguarding responsibilities, working in line with policies and supporting the DSL where required.
• Contribute to wider school life, including clinical supervision, team meetings, whole-school events, and supporting therapist recruitment and induction.
Person specifications
We’re looking for an experienced and compassionate speech & language therapist to join our school. You’ll be able to show these essential skills and requisite experience:
• Qualified band 7 speech & language therapist
• HCPC registration
• Demonstrated experience working with children with SEN/SpLD in an education setting
• IT literacy for clinical and administrative tasks
• Strong knowledge of speech, language, and communication needs, with the ability to develop and implement tailored, evidence-based interventions
• Experience in leading, supervising, and developing a therapy team, including providing CPD and support for professional growth
• Knowledge of relevant risk management, health and safety, and child protection practices
• Excellent communication skills
• Proven ability to lead service evaluation, implement improvements, and ensure interventions are aligned with research and best practice
• Experience liaising with external agencies, professional networks, and commissioners to support school-based provision
What are the perks?
• Access to a full CPD programme career progression opportunities
• 13 weeks of holiday per year, plus two term-time personal leave days
• Flexible working opportunities, with weekly PPA that can be taken remotely
• Free lunch every day, plus cooked breakfast twice per week when on-site
• A great employee assistance programme with access to wellbeing support advice
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Competitive salary pensions contributions
Role details & how to apply
Start date: January 2026
Salary: Band 7 range, £47,810 to £54,710 depending on experience
Working schedule: 37 weeks per year (term time only), five days per week.
Applications close on 16th December 2025. If you require sponsorship, please indicate this in your application.
Type: In-person role with the option to work remotely for your allocated PPA hours
You may have experience of the following: Speech and Language Therapist, SaLT Lead / Speech Therapy Lead, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Senior Speech and Language Therapist, HCPC-registered Speech and Language Therapist, Communication Therapy Lead, Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) Specialist, etc.
REF-225 229
Location (UK): Office Hybrid* - London
Hours: Full-time, 35 Hours per week
Salary: £55,155 per annum (London)
Benefits: Read more about the excellent benefits we offer on our website
Contract type: Fixed-term - 2 years
Travel: Occasional travel across the UK including Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Closing date: 23:59 hours, Sunday 4 January 2026
Join us and use your skills, knowledge, passion and energy to help us achieve a future free from arthritis.
You will join the UK Advocacy and Health Intelligence Department within the Chief Executive's Directorate. The team is responsible for leading UK strategy development and delivery across advocacy (policy, public affairs, campaigning) and health intelligence, working closely with colleagues across the UK to ensure effective delivery of the strategy in each nation. The department sits in the Chief Executive's Directorate to ensure driving positive change with and for people with arthritis is at the heart of the organisation.
The Department works closely with colleagues across the charity, including Services, Research and Income and Engagement to ensure we are joined up in our approach to arthritis.
About the role
The Researcher is a new, important post at Arthritis UK. Working within our Health Intelligence team, you will lead on providing expertise on the latest relevant research evidence, providing a responsive, robust and balanced assessment of the available evidence and any key gaps to shape the charity's UK advocacy agenda, and drive organisational priorities. Working across a range of issues you will play a crucial role in ensuring that the experiences and needs of people living with arthritis are understood and acted upon, and that arthritis is taken seriously across the UK.
About you
If your knowledge, skills and experience include the following then we'd love to hear from you:
- In-depth knowledge and experience in working in health-related, research.
- Experience in the synthesis and evaluation of research evidence across a range of sources (including grey literature), including in the design and delivery of rapid reviews.
- Experience in communicating clearly and succinctly to non-technical and non-expert audiences, through both written formats (e.g. briefing papers) and verbally (e.g. via presentations and meetings with senior stakeholders), with a robust approach to accessibility throughout communication.
- Demonstrable understanding of how research can be used to shape policy and practice.
- Experience of consistently applying a range of techniques and research methods applicable to framing research questions, evidence review and research evaluation.
- Able to communicate findings and conclusions clearly to non-specialist and specialist audiences.
- Educated to at least master's degree level or equivalent.
*As a hybrid worker the expectation is that you will spend around 40% of your working time in our office spaces or working in community settings. As an inclusive employer we will consider home-based working for anyone where office-based hybrid working would be a barrier to being able to work for us, for example for someone living with a long-term health condition or disability.
Benefits
Your excellent benefits include:
- Flexible hours, environments and working practices to promote a healthy work/life balance.
- Health and wellbeing support - including the Employee Assistance Programme (free confidential 24/7 support with mental health, legal and financial queries).
- Simplyhealth cash plan.
- Supportive and inclusive culture, with a wide range of employee networks and support groups available to join.
- Learning and personal development opportunities.
- Competitive annual leave, with the option to buy/sell up to five days per year.
- Generous pension plan, with employer contribution of up to 10%.
- Life Assurance plan (4 x salary).
Application deadline and shortlisting
We advise candidates to apply early as we reserve the right to close applications ahead of this date.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
We do not wish to receive contact from agencies or media sales.
Please note that we do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) during our recruitment and selection processes, and we would respectfully ask that you also refrain from using AI during the selection process. Whilst we do recognise that AI may be a beneficial tool for some when aiding research and preparation for an application or interview, we want to maintain a fair, inclusive and positive recruitment experience at Arthritis UK where candidates can feel supported to demonstrate their experience, knowledge, and skills without the use of AI generated answers.
Interview
Interviews are expected be held Thursday 15 January 2026, Arthritis UK London office
As a Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee you will be offered an interview if you disclose a disability and demonstrate sufficient evidence within your application that you meet the essential criteria for this role. We will also make any reasonable adjustments you may require for your interview.
About us
We have made a commitment in our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to increase the diversity of our charity and we welcome candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. We want our employees, volunteers and trustees to represent the broad diversity of the communities of which we are a part.
There are over 10 million people living with arthritis. That's one in six, with over half of those living in pain every single day. The impact is huge as the condition slowly intrudes on everyday life - affecting the ability to work, care for a family, to move free from pain and to live independently. Yet arthritis is often dismissed as an inevitable part of ageing or shrugged off as 'just a bit of arthritis'. We don't think that this is OK. Arthritis UK is here to change that.
Arthritis UK is committed to keeping children, young people and vulnerable adults safe from harm. During the recruitment process we will undertake safer recruitment practices and relevant checks to ensure applicants are suitable to work with children, young people and vulnerable adults.
Arthritis UK is a Registered Charity No: 207711 and in Scotland No. SC041156.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.


