Here at BounceOT, we work at Scottish Autism‘s New Struan School on Tuesday and Thursday mornings between 9am-12pm. We have been providing inclusive activity sessions and rebound therapy since 2017! This was originally blogged about by the school – you can read it here: Rebound Therapy at New Struan School
We are looking for a new Play Leader to come and support our small team to facilitate some fun activities on either one, or both, mornings!
Application Deadline – Friday 26th May 2023 @ 12pm (we might close before this if we receive a high number of applications)
We would expect you to shadow current Play Leader staff within the school before they break up for the summer holidays, complete essential training and supervision across the summer holidays (flexible hours) , then start a termtime contract from mid-August 2023.
This is an exciting time to join a well-established team providing rebound therapy and therapeutic play activities to children and young adults with autism within a specialist school provision.
We recently hired 2 part time Play Leaders at the end of 2022 to support us – you can read about it here!
How to Apply
Please answer the following questions and email them to hello@bouncet.com
1. What is your understanding of occupational therapy, and what we do at bOunceT?
2. What do you think the difference is between play and purposeful play?
3. What is your understanding of rebound therapy – in the context of how we ‘do’ therapeutic activity at bOunceT? [Hint: you might want to view a recent blog to keep you right]
4. Do you have experience of supporting children and/or adults with disabilities?
About Us
BounceOT is a multi-award winning social enterprise that was was founded as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2017 by Callum MacKinnon (Specialist Occupational Therapist).
Our vision is for everyone to be happy, healthy, and able to do the things they want, need, or have to do.
Our mission is to improve the quality of life and participation in meaningful activities for children and adults with disabilities, and their families. This is achieved by offering a range of direct and non-direct support from Occupational Therapy staff and certified Play Leaders. Our interventions are categorized into Universal, Targeted, and Specialist support.
As we aim to be as accessible as possible, we are ‘open referral’ for anybody to request assistance. We are not limited to only working with families referred by other services. Furthermore, we do not believe a child or adult requires a diagnosis to work with us. This is because our understanding is treatment services cannot be ‘one size fits all’.
We have a therapeutic play room in Stirling that is autism friendly and wheelchair accessible – this is where we offer professional led rebound therapy and specialist play services, or simply allow families to come in and use the space for meaningful family-fun time together!
Our ability to build on individuals existing and new skills is further evidenced by our commitment to working alongside key policies and legislation in this field – Keys to Life; Public Health Priories; Mental Health Strategy; Carers Strategy, to name a few.
The Role of a Play Leader
This job is not new – but it is unique, and very rewarding!
You will be expected to facilitate 1:1 (sometimes group) therapeutic activity sessions for a range of children and young people with autism.
New Struan School staff can get involved in the fun – or they might need to ‘drop off’ at the gym hall with you, then go back to help the rest of their class.
Responsible To –
Service Manager [Eliza] & Specialist Occupational Therapist [Callum]
Also, you will be introduced to the Leadership Team and Education staff at New Struan School
Play Leader Duties –
The responsibilities of a Play Leader shall include the following, and without limitation:
- Deliver inclusive activity sessions & rebound therapy independently, and alongside others when required.
[When a child or young adult is identified as being at a ‘Targeted’ level of support then you should follow guidance from their ‘Play Plan’. This is a therapy programme created by an Occupational Therapist (OT)] - Write all notes/records & upload pictures/videos of sessions onto our secure portal (Evisense) promptly, in accordance with company policy & regulatory guidelines.
- Contribute to individuals progress reports, as requested by the OT team.
- Attend professional review meetings [TAC – Team Around Child or SI – Staged Intervention] either with or without the OT present (when required).
- Coordinate timetable changes for relevant individuals & school staff members as required.
- Complete the following duties daily when working in the Therapy Play Room:
Visual Trampoline Check.
Safety Rules Check - Prepare for, and participate in, supervision with the Service Manager and/or Specialsit Occupational Therapist – minimum 1 hour per month.
- Actively contribute to effective team working within bOunceT and the organisation as a whole.
- Maintain a professional attitude with all individuals that you engage with about bOunceT and New Struan School whilst inside and outside of work.
- Identify personal learning needs and make actions during supervision to overcome these e.g. training.
- Ensure that the organisations Data Protection policy & procedure is adhered to and is embedded into working practices.
- Ensure the organisations policies and procedures are adhered to and are embedded into daily working practices.
- Complete mandatory training and training updates, as required. Undertake additional training within the practice area of Occupational Therapy, Play, Inclusive Play & measuring outcomes.
- In compliance with the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and the statutory duty of care for personal safety; ensure that a proactive role towards the management of risk is adopted, taking appropriate actions when required such as; reporting all incidents, near misses and hazards.
As bOunceT is a dynamic and growing social enterprise, all employees are expected to work in a flexible way when the occasion arises so that tasks not specifically covered by the Job Description may have to be undertaken. These additional duties will normally be compatible with regular type of work. If the additional responsibility or task becomes regular or a frequent part of the staff member’s job, it will be included on the Job Description in consultation with the member of staff.
Employee Benefits
In addition to a competitive rate of pay, and enrolment into our pension scheme (NEST), our Play Leaders will be automatically enrolled into Level 1 of Westfield Health’s Health Plan.
In addition, if you are a car driver then you will be able to get insured on our company car insurance and drive yourself (and possibly a colleague who might require a lift to the school!)
So, if you are interested and want to find out more, contact Eliza or Callum today!
callum@bouncet.com
eliza@bouncet.com
If you are ready to apply, please answer the initial applications questions and email them across to hello@bouncet.com today!
[Additional Information Below re: Employee Benefits]
