Test
Telford Education Psychology Service (EPS) Test
Educational psychologists help children and young people between the ages of 0-25 who are facing learning difficulties, social and emotional challenges, or developmental issues. They work in a variety of ways including observations, interviews and assessments and offer consultation, advice and support to teachers, parents, the wider community as well as the young people. Educational Psychologists are trained in many aspects of psychology and have a diverse understanding of how children develop. EPs use psychology to help young people and families understand their situations and how to move forward.
How we support children and young people
Educational psychologists support schools and families in many different ways. Their work can take many different forms and may involve working with families and young people directly or working with the educational setting. Often, EPs visit educational settings to support young people with their learning, wellbeing and experience in school.
EPs work with many different young people of different ages, including early years and young people who are preparing for adulthood. Their work will often involve listening and understanding the situation from many different perspectives including, parents, carers, school teachers, teaching assistants and young people.
EPs use these perspectives and psychology to generate questions about the young person’s current situation and explore with the family, staff and young person ways these questions can be answered to help the young person and family move forward. Often, teachers, young people or parents may best be suited to answer these questions as they know the young person best. EPs can support with this process by bringing their knowledge of child development and psychology.
How does an Educational Psychologist become involved with a young person?
The school’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) may talk to an EP about further guidance and support a young person may need if they are concerned. If the Educational Psychologist agrees that further support is needed, the school will ask parents to provide written and signed consent, for the EP to work with the family and the young person. An Educational Psychologist may send a One Page Profile to the school, so the young person can see and learn a little bit about who they are.
During a visit to an educational setting
From speaking with staff an Educational Psychologist may decide they need to see the young person within school. This can sometimes lead to an EP or an Assistant psychologist (AP) visiting a young person in school and completing some work directly with them. The work an EP completes within a school can take many different forms, but often it can involve:
- Completing an observation of a young person in their classroom or at break/lunch time
- Talking with a young person and asking them to complete activities that explore their views
- Completing games or activities with a young person to understand how they may learn
- Running interventions with a whole class or group of children
- Leading a consultation with staff and parents in order to understand the situation from different points of view
After a visit to an educational setting
The school will use their new understanding and information to support the young person and put techniques and interventions in place. This process is often referred to as an APDR (Assess, Plan, Do Review) and is part of a school’s graduated response.
Sometimes, a written record will be sent to the school and shared with parents. This will summarise the work the EP completed in the school and the agreed actions. However, all actions will take place from the agreed date within the meeting and are not subject to a written report. An EP will usually review the work with parents and staff later in the year, to evaluate progress and help staff to continue to move forwards supporting the young person and address any new situations that arise.
Consultations
An EP will often have direct contact with parents and carers and may invite them to a meeting, often called a consultation, with a school to hear the views and experiences of all involved. The Educational Psychologist will then use all of the information to plan next steps, goals or outcomes to support a young person with everyone involved. These steps are agreed by a whole team to ensure everyone is clear about the actions that are happening, who is completing them and when they are aimed to be achieved by.
- Consultation provides structure and oppurtunity for adults to explore what will help a child/young person to access the social and learning oppurtunities that are avaliable in their setting
- The consultation will be attended by the adults who have asked for the EP to help understand anf mmet the needs of a student. The EP will use their specialist knowledge to enable those at the consultation to be solution focused.
- The EP who has attended the consultation will write a summary. Everyone at the consultation will get a copy. We always send a copy to parents.
- The adults in the children/young people's setting will use the solutions generated during the consultation to plan what they will do next.
- After an agreed time there will be a review meeting.
How else might an EP be involved?
- Educational Health Care Needs Assessment process. EPs provide psychological advice about the situation with the young person, presenting their views and strengths. As well as this, EPs will provide areas that the young person needs support in and recommends approaches that can be used to facilitate this.
- Telford EPS also supports and works closely with the Child Development Centre (CDC).
- Educational Psychologists are currently supporting with the Communication and Interaction (C&I) assessment pathway for Autism with children under 5 year of age. As part of this process, an Educational Psychologist may visit your child in their nursery or early years setting and will support parents and schools with appropriate provision as they move forward to school. More information about this process can be found on the CDC website.
How we support educational settings
Telford EPS works directly with local schools, nursery and colleges to support children and young people. Schools can commission our work by directly contacting the SEND team.
Consultation
We meet with families, staff and young people to jointly formulate and solve problems.
Training
The Educational Psychology Service offers a wide range of training for educational staff. This can include Autism awareness for teachers, ELSA training, emotional coaching, attachment or training on specific interventions.
Organisational Development
EPs apply a range of psychological models to whole school approaches and can support with behaviour, Autism, practice in the early years foundation stage, and pupil and staff wellbeing policies.
Teacher Drop ins
Educational psychologists can facilitate teacher drop in sessions, which is open to all teachers within the setting to discuss and reflect on problems and their practice. Drop ins can also be used to support staff wellbeing.
Learning Interventions
Eps offer support, training and advice on interventions with individual or groups of children to support their learning in various areas of the curriculum. Some examples of interventions we support with are precision teaching and direct instruction for early reading.
Group and Whole Class Interventions
The EPS can support and facilitate a range of group interventions to support children with social, emotion and academic development.
Supervision
We can support staff through supervision, which is a space to reflect critically on practice. We currently offer the Supervision of ELSA’s.
Additional Support
- Schools can contact us for support regarding Critical incident and Bereavement following a child or adult death.
- We provide Statutory guidance to the Local Authority to contribute to the Education Health and Care Needs Assessment (ECHNA) process, through our team and locum psychologists.
The Team
We are a team of Educational Psychologists, Trainee Educational Psychologists and Assistant Psychologists who apply psychology to support the wellbeing and progress of children and young people aged 0 - 25 years.
Our Values
Collaboration
At Telford we work collaboratively with families, children and a variety of agencies, including health and social care to provide holistic support for children.
Community
Supporting our community is vital to providing aid and wellbeing for children and young people. At Telford, we have reached into the community to offer psychological support.
Innovation
At Telford, we prioritize innovative ways to work with children and their families, using new and creative psychology to work at individual and systemic levels.
Wellbeing
We believe the wellbeing of children, families, teachers and school is central to all of our work. We promote whole school and individual wellbeing.
Our Projects
ELSA
At Telford EPS we provide annual training for Emotional Literacy Support Assistants within Primary and Secondary Schools.
PODS
We have partnered with PODS to support parents who have children with Autism. Our team provides group and individual sessions to support parents with Autistic children in their daily lives.
EP Bakes
Telford EPS Bakes is a place where we share our love of baking and psychology! We believe positive psychology can be shared through baking and sharing together.
Autism Education Trust
We provide Autism Education Trust training for primary secondary and post-16 settings, in combination with Learning Supper Advisory Teachers.
The Wellbeing Charter Mark
We are committed to whole school wellbeing practices through implementation of the pilot of the Sandwell Wellbeing Charter Mark
Sandwell Wellbeing Charter Mark
10 by 10
The Educational Psychology service is supporting Telford and Wrekin with the 10 by 10 initiative, to encourage children to participate in ten life enhancing activities by the time they are 10 years old.
Contact
Referrals to the Educational psychology service are completed through schools. If you are a parent carer looking for EP involvement please speak to the SENCo at your child's setting.