Educational Psychology
Please note – we are currently unable to offer top up or ad hoc sessions, due to high demand for EP time. This will be reviewed in September 2023
We are a group of qualified Educational Psychologists. We use the training that we have had in psychology, education & child development to help schools/settings to include children and young people effectively. By ‘include’ we mean that pupils are able to understand what is taught in lessons and are given tasks that are presented in the right way for them. It also means that pupils have good relationships with other pupils and staff at their school/setting, so that they feel part of the school/setting community. We are usually contacted by schools/settings when there is a problem in one of these areas. A pupil may be finding it difficult to make progress with their learning; their behaviour may be preventing them from learning or participating in lessons; or they may seem particularly worried or unhappy. We work with pupils, schools/settings and families to try and resolve these difficulties.
We are regulated by the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC). You can find further information about HCPC expectations and guidelines on their website https://www.hcpc-uk.org/
Our vision, mission and values
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Vision: Enabling Positive Change |
Values: Collaborative Understanding Valuing difference Integrity |
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Mission: Using Psychology to bring people and ideas together |
Our vision is to enable positive change. There are core values underpinning our work including that we work collaboratively with parents and professionals, we demonstrate understanding, we value difference and work with integrity according to the HCPC principles that regulate and guide us.
What we do
Some of the work that we do is commissioned by the Local Authority and some is requested by schools/settings that purchase time from our service. When we are asked to help the school/setting support individual pupils, we often start by doing some assessment work. Assessment can include conversations with the pupil, their family, school staff and others who know about what is happening. We may sit in on a lesson or out on the playground so that we can see what is happening for ourselves. Sometimes, we will work directly with the pupil to discuss the situation and sometimes to present tasks or tests. This will give us useful information about what they find easy and what they find difficult or it may help us to gain their views in a more structured way. We will always try to make the people we are working with feel as comfortable as possible.
Once we have collected the information we need, we will usually meet with school/setting staff to discuss changes that can be made to make things better. It is likely that parents will be invited to this meeting. It is useful for everyone to share their opinions on the problems and how to make the situation better. We will share the information that we have collected and our thoughts on what we have found.
Some written feedback will be sent to the school/setting and it is expected that this will be shared with parents. It will provide a summary of information we have collected and agreed actions or recommendations. The school/setting will continue to monitor the progress of the child and we may agree to have a review meeting.
When it is helpful, we work jointly with other professionals, such as the Autism Team, Learning Support Team, Sensory Impairment & Physical Disability Team, Behaviour Support Team, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and members of Health and Social Care.
What else do we do?
Sometimes, a conversation about a situation is enough to help the people involved identify how to improve it. We offer consultations to schools/settings and families, where we use our knowledge of psychology to guide the conversation. Such consultations aim to help the adults involved to make positive changes for children and young people without the need for us to meet or work with those children and young people directly.
We offer training to schools/settings (that purchase time from our service) on a range of topics. All of the training supports schools/settings to use psychology in a way that will help their staff and pupils.
We support schools/settings to think about the way that they work and whether they can make changes which will lead to better outcomes for their organisation and the people that are part of it.
Work that is commissioned by the Local Authority includes:
- Contributing to assessments following a request for an Education, Health and Care Plan
- Providing independent advice following a disagreement around an Education, Health and Care Plan.
- Support for schools/settings following a traumatic incident
- Assessments with children who are new to the city/UK
Contact Details
For further information, please look at our webpage
or contact
