Assistant Educational Psychologist

Our service is growing, and we have ambitious plans for the future. Central Bedfordshire Council has an unwavering commitment to early intervention, supported by Senior Leaders across the Children and Families Directorate. Through the Change Partnership Programme, we are expanding our early intervention offer. We are looking for dynamic and confident Assistant Educational Psychologists to join the team to work on two distinct pilot projects:

• Alternative Provision Support Team - working with alternative provisions within Central Bedfordshire who have temporary placements for young people who are at risk of permanent exclusion.
• Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) - working with a multi-agency group of professionals across Education, Health and Social Care to support 5 pilot case study projects in implementing new guidance and a school-based toolkit to support children, young people and their families experiencing EBSA.
This is a unique opportunity to engage in the delivery and evaluation of pilot projects, with a specific focus on improving the educational experiences and outcomes for young people who are facing significant barriers in their access to education, and for some, who are at risk of permanent exclusion. You will work with experienced Educational Psychologists (EPs) to support areas of work in both projects. Work will involve engaging with and delivering psychologically informed evidence-based interventions, as well as evaluating the success and impact of each project. The Assistant Educational Psychology Team is one of three well establish teams within the Educational Psychology Service, working collaboratively alongside the Substantive Educational Psychology Team and the Extended Educational Psychology Team. Assistant EPs work closely with a range of Educational Psychologists across the service, health and local authority colleagues to support the early identification of children and young people with special educational needs, deliver school training, and offer workshops to strengthen relationships with families. You will be familiar with the arrangements of primary and secondary schools and have had some prior knowledge of supporting disadvantaged pupils who have experienced adversity. As an Assistant EP working in Central Bedfordshire, you will have opportunities to access a range of professional development activities (CPD), and be supported by a service which ringfences allocated time for CPD. If you are committed working as an Assistant EP within a local authority context, dedicated to gaining the experience required to successfully secure a place on one of the doctoral training courses to become a fully qualified EP, keen to apply your knowledge of evidence-based interventions, psychological assessments, and research skills at an individual level as well as across the local authority, this post will be ideal for you. We are building a locality model, placing psychology within community-based settings and value exploring opportunities to embed psychology within the communities we work in, to facilitate positive and powerful change for the children and young people we support. By working in this post, you will:
• Have access to regular supervision from an Educational Psychologist.
• Be supported by a strong team of positive Educational Psychologists, as well as a team of dedicated Assistant Educational Psychologists.
• Contribute supportively to service delivery, through both statutory and non-statutory psychology services.
• Have access to weekly group supervision sessions and interest groups within the EPS.
• Engage in a professional development programme to support your career into the profession.
• Receive opportunities to work with a range of colleagues across the Children and Families Directorate to support your work.