Educational Psychologist

The vision for the post:

• Pupils – To ensure with the staff that pupils have their special educational needs fully assessed and that their needs are provided for in the school and where necessary, with support from specialist services.
• Families – To include families in the assessment and support for their children, to help them understand the complexities of the needs of their children and support them to develop strategies to manage them at home, when the need for this is indicated.
• Staff – To provide staff with detailed holistic assessments of the children, advice with regard to target setting, support for their work with regards to the learning and behaviour management of the children, consultations on request, input to staff meetings/review meetings, in service training and resources.
• School – To provide input to the school as a whole whereby suggested systemic changes benefit individuals and groups.
• Wider contexts – To link the work of the school with the wider community: other schools, specialist services, developing ideas for practice/research in Educational Psychology, the field of Autism, issues for children who are Looked after/Adopted and Safeguarding.

The benefits of the post are:

• When the names of children are put forward for consideration for a place at the school, it is helpful to promptly access more background information, provide a psychologist’s perspective on the child’s needs, and when requested see the child in school/visit the family, to aid the admission process.
• When a child is offered a place in the school, a chronology of the history of the child’s difficulties is provided to ensure the school can learn from the work done to date and build on this.
• Casework responsibilities and files are promptly transferred to the Psychologist for the school, so there is ongoing Psychology input for each child.
• There is always accompanying background information and school records for children starting at the school. An indepth case consultation with the child’s parents provides an opportunity for them to be equal partners in the assessment of their child and setting initial targets.
• The literacy levels of all the pupils are assessed soon after they start at the school. The results are RAG rated establishing which children have significant literacy difficulties. These children are discussed with the teacher who offers specialised teaching and support is planned.
• The Psychologist is in school two full days a week. She joins the children in the day-to-day routines of the school. This makes her a familiar figure to the children and breaks down barriers for those children who might be anxious about the role of the Educational Psychologist.
• The presence of the Psychologist around school means staff can informally raise concerns about children, and ask for input when the need arises. Children can be seen in the context where the problems are arising, which gives valuable insights as a basis for assessment.
• Termly sessions (six times a year) with the residential staff to discuss children of concern, group dynamics, review the support offered to the children – individually and as small groups, assessments of the children and contact with the parents/carers.
• Full Psychological assessments of children of concern undertaken without delay.
• The Psychologist is available at the request of children, staff, parents/carers, to provide direct work with children: counselling, life story work.
• Core group meetings with key school staff are promptly offered when there are concerns about an individual child. These are offered in conjunction with the Senior CAMHS Practitioner. The aim is to plan strategies with staff.
• The Psychologist acts to promote multi-professional liaison between visiting professionals to the benefit of the children, families and the staff. Termly (six times a year) multi-professional meetings are hosted with: the in-school CAMHS Senior Mental Health Practitioner; the Advisory Teacher from the Service for Autism; the Speech and Language Therapist and the School Nurse.
• The development of an online record of the work of visiting professionals which promotes information sharing, joint working, a more equitable use of professional resources and avoids unnecessary duplication. This is available to all staff who can at a time convenient to them, access records of professional involvement and professional insights into the children and their families.
• The Psychologist provides annual in-service training sessions for newly appointed staff, including required Safeguarding training (Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board training).
• Home visits to see parents/carers when requested by them and/or staff, to offer individual work, ongoing support and when needed referrals to outside specialist services.
• The creation of an electronic library for staff and visiting professionals containing information, research articles, and handouts. This facility supports the work of the school and is updated on a weekly basis.
• The attendance and input of the Psychologist at the termly (six times a year) Parents’ Group meetings. These are further opportunities to meet with parents/carers and have informal discussions with them about their children and the role of the Educational Psychologist.

Contributions to policy and practice at a national level

From September 2013, Anne will be seconded for one day a week to work with the Neuropsychiatry Team, CAMHS. This work will bring an Educational Psychology perspective on schools and children in schools to the team, with a special professional interest in children who are looked after/adopted.