Educational Psychology Service: information for families

If your child's school buys in Educational Psychologist support, they or West Berkshire Council may ask an educational psychologist to work with your child, usually to investigate his or her needs or to help plan support.

You'll always be asked for permission and be involved in all steps of this process.
 

How do you access an Educational Psychologist?

If you think your child would benefit from an educational psychologist's help then please speak to their class teacher or SENCO (special educational needs coordinator) who will discuss this further with you. All requests for involvement must be made through your child's school.
 

Who we help

We promote positive outcomes for vulnerable groups of children and young people (aged 0-25). 

This could include those:

• at risk of permanent exclusion
• in care
• in vulnerable groups who have complex learning or behaviour needs, including those eligible for pupil premium
• with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEHM) difficulties
• with Educational, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), where there are concerns about their progress despite interventions that are monitored and evaluated
• who have severe, complex and persistent needs where the school is struggling to overcome the barriers to progress
• who are struggling to attend school ( Emotional Based School Avoidance [575KB] )
   

How we help

We can provide:

• Parenting courses
• Parental support
• Training on child development
• Professional development and training of staff
• Consultation with staff and parents
• Support for groups of staff
• Therapeutic interventions
• Psychological assessments, monitoring, review and evaluation
• Advice, support and coaching
• Direct work with individual pupils and small groups including Video Interaction Guidance (VIG), Coping with Worries, exam stress etc.
• Critical incident support
• Research and analysis e.g. Sandwell Wellbeing Project
• Support for other teams and organisations who work with children and young people, promoting an understanding of psychology
• Support for schools in challenging circumstances
• Commissioned work - e.g. work with Children in Care (CIC) team
• Supervision and training of Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs), who work in schools, colleges and early years settings to promote emotional literacy and wellbeing
• Wellbeing support for families and children
  • view our  Families EPS Wellbeing and Recovery Activity Booklet [2MB]
  • you can also view our  Wellbeing and Recovery advice presentation [587KB]

We also contribute to West Berkshire Council's statutory assessment of special educational needs (SEN) and the production of the Education Health and Care plan (EHCP).