Working with Schools

Educational Psychology support that works with you and your school

We value our relationships with schools

and having the opportunity to get to know staff and the local community is a key part in our success.

 

Our Relationship

Your school will have its own priorities and ways of working. We get this, and work flexibly with each school to help identify the best ways we can work together to achieve positive outcomes for children.

It’s important that your Educational Psychologist understands your school, children and families. We feel that understanding the school culture and strengths, as well as the broader community, is key to helping us work together and find approaches which are likely to have the most positive outcomes for children. This also gives us the opportunity to work proactively where the opportunity arises to help overcome some persistent issues. You become part of our team, and we hope that you feel that we become part of yours too.

Psychological consultation

Individual Children

Psychological assessment

Educational Psychologists often work with those with the greatest level of need, who require that level of depth to really understand their needs and provide guidance on how we can best support them.

Our involvement includes all assessments (emotional, cognitive, social), observations, consultations and report writing.

Assessments

We use a broad range of assessments to help understand individual children’s needs and potential. These range across formal and informal assessments, observations, and questionnaires, which we use to triangulate areas of strength and need, and identify priority areas which will have the biggest long-term positive impact for the child.

Consultation

Consultation gives us the opportunity to work together; bringing together the experiences and expertise of the parents and teachers to clearly understand the needs of the child and collaboratively find practical solutions which work. Through consultation we can put the assessment information into context, and adapt interventions to ensure that they are most appropriate and effective for the child, while also being practical for staff and parents to put into practice.

Reports

Reports are with schools within two to three weeks (often much sooner). The main reason for such a quick turnaround is to ensure the quality of the reports. Making sure that we schedule time to write the report within a few days means that we still have a deep understanding the child, their family and teacher, and can remember the little details which make a difference. Schools we work with appreciate the quality and speed of our reports, as it can help in getting the right support in place without any delays.

Staff Training

staff training

Schools periodically find that an area of need grows, or that there’s the opportunity to look into new programmes which could lead to whole-school improvement. In either situation, we love the opportunity to provide training for staff, and have a range of programmes which we’ve enjoyed running with schools.

When thinking about your training, we find that talking through what the aims are for school to be incredibly helpful because this allows us to tailor the programme in a way which can achieve your desired outcomes. To the side is a selection of training programmes. We also have a network with other psychologists and professionals who we regularly enjoy co-delivering training with. So, if there’s any other topics you’d like training on, let’s talk through and find what will work best for your school.

Resiliency Training

Developing key staff skills in our understanding of resiliency, and what we can practically do within the classroom and school to increase all children’s capacity to ‘bounce back’ and overcome adversity. This is an especially timely and important topic given COVID-19.

Autism

Understanding foundational needs in autism (e.g. social understanding, flexible thinking, sensory processing), and key strategies for support in the classroom and small-groups.

Growth Mindset

A lot of children aren’t able to achieve their potential because they are afraid of making mistakes and simply don’t value trying their hardest. This training gives a practical framework to develop children’s confidence and effort with learning, and build their academic resiliency.

Working Memory

Being able to recognise children’s individual learning capacities, work within this, maximise learning, and provide intervention to support it’s improvement.

Emotional Regulation Programmes

Setting up a whole-school (or small group) emotional regulation programme to help children have a shared language around emotions, be able to recognise these, and manage them effectively.

ELSA for TAs

A 5 day TA training programme to develop knowledge and skills in supporting children with a wide range of emotional needs. Provides certification.

For our current training dates, please click here

Other Professional Services

We have a growing network of other professionals, including Psychotherapists and Clinical Psychologists who we work with. Each has a unique skill set which can add to improving outcomes for children. We work with professionals who we consider to be some of the best in their field, so that the schools we work with can feel confident about receiving the best support available.

Contact us to talk about what might be the most appropriate service to meet the needs of your children.

Structure of working

Continued Support

Schools often prefer to have the security of our services over the course of a year, and we work together to identify the level of need and the type of support we can provide. By building these relationships and getting to know a school and the community, it increases the quality, outcomes and value of our work.

One-off Involvement

We also support schools with one-off involvement, typically with an individual child or training. We want to help, and know that often during these times a school has a great need for Educational Psychologist involvement. Where we can, we will always support your school.

educational psychology

Needs we Support:

  • Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)

    • Mental health
    • Staff Wellbeing
    • Attachment and Nurture
    • Anxiety
    • Anger
    • Control
    • Bereavement
    • Resiliency
    • Self-esteem
    • Gender Identity
    • Bullying prevention
    • Looked after status

  • Social Communication

    • Autistic spectrum condition (ASC)
    • Social Skills
    • Flexible thinking
    • Emotional Recognition
    • Theory of mind
    • Sensory processing differences

  • Cognition and learning needs

    • Literacy difficulties (including Dyslexia)
    • Maths difficulties (including Dyscalculia)
    • Auditory processing
    • Phonological awareness
    • Working Memory
    • Visual Spatial
    • Developmental delay
    • Attention difficulties
    • ADHD

  • Other Areas of Need and Support

    • Developmental co-ordination disorder
    • Speech and Language
    • Motivational interviewing
    • Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)
    • Solution-focused brief therapy
    • Emotional coaching
    • Peer mediation
    • Psychological assessments
    • Consultation
    • Psychological reports