Working with the Educational Psychology Service

As educational psychologists, we have two key roles within the local authority. We deliver support at a statutory level to provide advice for children and young people having an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment as well as other core duties. 

We also provide early intervention support through a range of activities.

The EPS provides a targeted and specialist service for children and young people experiencing barriers to their education and development.

Through the application of psychological knowledge and skills, we aim to help children and young people (from birth to 25 years) overcome barriers to successful learning.

These barriers might arise from:

• learning difficulties and special educational needs (SEN)
• social, emotional or mental health needs
• physical, medical or sensory needs
• communication and language needs

The commissioned activities of the EPS provide a key component in early intervention and school development and training.

For those children, young people and adults undergoing a statutory Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment, the EPS provide psychological advice.

Following traumatic incidents, the EPS provides support and advice to the senior leadership team of settings to help them manage the situation to reduce psychological distress.

Support involves:

• guiding schools / other educational settings to manage the immediate response in respect of a particular event and situation,  supporting them to promote psychological wellbeing and recovery of the school community
• being a critical friend to the educational setting’s senior leadership team regarding the plans they are making for communication to, and support for, their school community
• identifying and providing the most relevant resource materials from the EPS or other organisations to help schools implement, produce and evaluate their School emergency plans and procedures
• providing psychoeducation to education setting staff for their own use and / or to pass on to children, young people and parents

Early intervention work is offered on a commissioned basis.

Our offer includes:

• traded work in schools
• schools/settings can buy in days of EP time to work collaboratively through a consultation approach to best meet the needs of the children and young people in their setting

Traded work can include:

• systemic or capacity-building support through training and development
• individual assessments for children
• support to plan and review interventions at a pupil, group or whole class level

Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS)

The Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS) programme is an additional priority supported by the local authority which is run jointly by the North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire EPS. TaMHS supports the early intervention / prevention agenda, enabling schools to maximise their capacity to promote and support children and young people’s mental health and to intervene where mental health difficulties emerge.

TaMHS provides centrally organised, core-funded training to schools and partner agencies.

Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs)

Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) training and supervision are provided jointly by the North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire EPS. The ELSA programme aims to build the capacity of schools to support the emotional needs of their pupils via their own resources.

ELSAs attend training run by educational psychologists that enable them to plan and deliver bespoke interventions for children and young people to develop their emotional literacy, resiliency and social skills. Following training, ELSAs attend ongoing half-termly group supervision with an educational psychologist to enable them to continue to fulfil the role in school.

The training aspect is funded by the local authority, with schools required to commission the ongoing supervision by educational psychologists.

Northamptonshire Baby Room Project

The Northamptonshire Baby Room Project aims to raise the quality of babies’ experiences by strengthening the relationships between practitioners and babies, and parents and their babies. 

Find out more about the Northamptonshire Baby Room Project.

SENCO Supervision

The EPS provides group supervision for SENCOs to share good practice and engage in collaborative problem solving. Sessions run every half term. 

To request more information please contact [email protected].

Definitions of terms

• EPS practitioners - this includes all members of the EPS providing a service; assistant educational psychologists, trainee educational psychologists, educational psychologists, specialist senior educational psychologists, senior educational psychologists, and principal educational psychologists
• EPS senior managers - the senior management team of the Educational Psychology Service (the principal and senior educational psychologists
• Organisation - this refers to the schools, settings or services that are commissioning the EPS
• Educational Psychology Service or EPS - this is the West Northamptonshire Council Educational Psychology Service
• Organisation senior staff - this refers to the relevant managers within organisations able to commission services
• The Partnership Agreement - The agreement between the organisation and Educational Psychology Service stating the number of days purchased in the academic year

Nature of the Partnership Agreement

The Partnership Agreement describes the level and type of service that will be provided to the commissioning organisation between the dates specified on the online request form (i.e. an academic year).

The service will be provided by the West Northamptonshire Educational Psychology Service (EPS), who will be responsible for the clinical supervision and quality standards of their practitioners.

EPS practitioners may include trainee educational psychologists supervised by a named educational psychologist.

All organisations will need to submit the partnership agreement request by 23rd May 2025.

The pricing for EPS services will be secured for the duration of the agreement.

In order to work effectively and meet the needs of all of our settings, it is expected that work will be negotiated and planned to take place evenly across the six school terms. 
 

In order to qualify for service delivery, the child or young person must be within the age range of birth to 25 years and they must be on roll at an early years setting, school or college. Commissions will only be taken from organisations and not from individual citizens, including those acting on their own behalf.

A planning meeting will be provided to agree priorities. Work will be negotiated between the setting (usually via the SENCO) and the EPS. If staff, parents or other professionals have concerns regarding a young person, they should discuss these with the SENCO in the first instance.

EPS involvement with individual children and young people requires informed and signed consent either from those with parental responsibility or from the young person, as appropriate (please refer to the online request for support form guidance). Working with those in the care of a local authority requires signed consent from the social worker. On receipt of this consent, the EPS will open confidential and secure electronic files for each pupil.

The request for EP involvement and signed consent form must be received at least five working days prior to a scheduled visit. Where consent is not received within this timeframe, the visit may be cancelled and time recorded and charged for.

Commissions will not be accepted from carers/parents, either directly or indirectly via an organisation.

EPS support will be made available for a range of work aimed at promoting inclusion, increasing psychological well-being and raising standards across the full range of ages and abilities. West Northamptonshire EPS promotes a consultation-based service delivery model.

The focus of the work may be at any of the following levels:

• individual level
• group and class level
• strategic system level
• organisational level

At the individual level, EPS practitioners will be able to:

• provide consultation, psychological assessment, interventions and recommendations for individual children and young people
• support the development of psychological interventions and advice that focuses on narrowing gaps in attainment and improving academic progress at the individual level
• contribute towards multi-agency meetings about children and young people, as appropriate

At the group and whole class level, EPS practitioners will be able to deliver services that:

• support the development of psychological interventions aimed at developing particular skills for small groups of children and young people (e.g. social skills, emotional regulation, managing anxiety and thinking skills)
• support the development of psychological interventions and advice that focuses on narrowing gaps in attainment and improving academic progress (e.g. study skills, literacy and numeracy attainment, memory skills or understanding)
• provide support to small groups of staff in managing a particular issue (e.g. bullying)
• provide parent and carer workshops and programmes in schools or other suitable settings (e.g. training for foster carers and prospective adoptive parents on attachment and promoting resilience)
• provide professional supervision and/or coaching to staff in schools and settings regarding individual, group or whole-class issues
• provide professional supervision for staff working in the Children’s Trust or other LA services for service-related issues
• provide joint problem-solving, solution-focused consultation at the individual, group and/or systems levels, including to staff and senior management groups

At the strategic, systems and organisational levels, the EPS practitioners will be able to:

• provide psychological support for schools in developing strategies and systems around whole-school matters (e.g. policy development) - this may include advice and recommendations with regard to development areas identified by an Ofsted inspection or school development plan.
• provide continuing professional development (CPD) for staff on a wide range of topics with a psychological, learning and child development basis
• provide support for and/or deliver project development and research work (e.g. around transitions, evaluating interventions, participation in school development work)
• provide professional supervision and/or coaching to staff (including headteachers and senior teachers, specialist staff such as SENCOs and staff in designated roles for safeguarding, children in care and mental health) regarding strategic, systemic and/or organisational issues

The EPS has a duty to ensure that assessment and intervention practice is compliant with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) standards of conduct, performance and ethics.

This information is available on the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) website.

As LA employees, the EPS management will ensure that all practitioners have successfully undergone all necessary pre-employment checks. 

West Northamptonshire EPS is a Safer Recruitment organisation, and all staff will:

• be appropriately qualified for the work undertaken
• have received enhanced DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) disclosures, as required, appropriate for regulated activities, including regular contact and unsupervised working with vulnerable children and adults and those who work with them
• have and will display for inspection their council employer’s photo-ID badge
• be fully covered by the council’s insurance for this work
• have undertaken mandatory training for working with children and adults; including safeguarding and data protection

The EPS operates within the Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership safeguarding procedures and will take actions, if or when required, in accordance with these procedures.

Typically, each setting will be allocated a named EPS practitioner for the academic year, however, the EPS reserves the right to identify the educational psychologist most appropriate for the delivery of the commission.

All work carried out as part of the commission will be chargeable. 

This includes:

• the writing of reports and/or consultation records and all other case-related record-keeping
• research
• scoring
• other activities integral to the service commissioned

Much of which will be completed off-site, including during school holiday periods, when necessary. 

Off-site time will not typically be more than the direct work time in school. The exception to this may be when training is being prepared and delivered or there is more complex casework. 

Multi-agency or professional liaison time and contact with parents or carers (including telephone consultation, liaison and home visits, where required), will be included as part of the time bought by the organisation, including when delivered off-site. EP practice includes the expectation that we work in partnership with carers/parents.

Work may be carried out face-to-face or virtually in negotiation between the EPS practitioner and the organisation. Where work is carried out virtually the EPS practitioner will discuss expectations for virtual working such as using a secure connection, etiquette and safe practice.

EPS staff will follow the requirements set out in risk assessments for the organisation when visiting. Some EPS practitioners may hold their own individual risk assessments due to their specific needs and these must be shared with school or setting staff before a visit.

EPS practitioners aim to produce written reports, records of consultation and action plans within four weeks of their final contact.

Reports about individual children and young people will be sent by e-mail appropriately protected through the Egress system to both the commissioning school and those named in the request for support as having parental responsibility. It will be the responsibility of the organisation to notify the EPS of the address(es) of all those with parental responsibility to whom the report should be sent.

The storage of records and documents will be organised through the usual EPS processes in accordance with the West Northamptonshire Council privacy notice. Electronic copies of reports will be maintained and all documents stored are subject to access under the Data Protection Act requirements and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

For young people of 18 years and older, the report will be sent to the young person and the organisation.
EPS practitioners will provide support spread evenly throughout the calendar year (for example, six days for the academic year would be divided into two days per term). The distribution of support across the year will be agreed at the planning meeting.

The EPS will endeavour to cover any short-term EPS practitioner absences. Longer-term absences may have to be reflected in a reduction in charges unless other cover arrangements can be identified by the EPS.

Should the organisation cancel an EPS appointment at short notice (less than 48 hours in advance) the time will be recorded and charged. For postponed appointments, the EPS will endeavour to rearrange the visit. 

The EPS will endeavour to make up time ‘lost’ through adverse weather or circumstances beyond our control, but this cannot be guaranteed. 

In the case of training being cancelled by the EPS, it shall be at the discretion of the EPS either to provide an alternative date for the training or to provide a full refund.

To make the most efficient use of EPS commissioned time, the organisation shall:

• identify a senior member or members of staff responsible for the consultation, liaison and planning of EPS work and activities
• work with the EPS in arranging face-to-face and/or virtual appointments and in promoting pupil and parent and carer attendance
• liaise with parents and carers to ensure that all those with parental responsibility have given consent to the involvement of the EPS practitioner - please refer to the online request for support guidance and consent form
• ensure Request For Involvement and Consent Forms are returned to the EPS at least five working days prior to the visit
• ensure appropriate access to children, young people and staff for interview and observation
• prepare children/young people for direct work with the EPS practitioner as agreed when the work is planned
• ensure the EPS is informed of pupil absence, including as soon as possible on the day of the absence, if an EPS practitioner is due to visit
• provide an appropriate safe, quiet space for the EPS practitioner to work, including for individual work with the pupil and for family meetings, when required
• provide access to relevant records
• gather data to support collaborative assessment, as required

If the organisation is unhappy with any aspect of the services provided by the EPS, discussions should occur with the EPS practitioner in the first instance. 

If the discussion with the EPS practitioner does not resolve the matter, then the issue should be referred to the EPS practitioner’s line manager, usually the senior educational psychologist for the area who may convene a three-way meeting to try and resolve the concern.

If the intervention of the senior educational psychologist does not resolve the matter, then the commissioner may escalate their concern to the principal educational psychologist.

Schools will be billed for the cost of their annual partnership agreement in line with the financial years. 7/12 of the cost will be taken in the autumn term and 5/12 of the cost in the summer term.

If you need to contact the West Northamptonshire Educational Psychology Service, please email us at [email protected].

Our address is:

West Northamptonshire Council Educational Psychology Service
One Angel Square
Angel Street
Northampton
NN1 1ED