East Riding of Yorkshire Council - Area Senior Educational Psychologist

Due to retirement of the post holder, an exciting opportunity has arisen to undertake a lead role within the Educational Psychology Service (EPS) in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  The Educational Psychology Service sits within Children and Young People’s Specialist Services, which has responsibility for Special Educational Needs assessment and placement, Children’s Commissioning and sufficiency, school specialist teaching and support and the Virtual School.

We are a well-staffed EPS, with three Area Senior EPs, Educational Psychologists and Specialist Senior EP roles for early years, communication and interaction, social, emotional and mental health, vulnerable children and cognition and learning.  We also have communication and interaction specialists, for supporting autism and social communication needs as part of our service.  We have a strong and successful commitment to recruitment and retention and ‘home growing’ educational psychologists.  As well as employing assistant EPs, we provide placements for Trainee Educational Psychologists (TEPs) and employ TEPs in years two and three of their doctorate training.

Area Senior EPs are part of a supportive EPS leadership team, providing leadership, management and supervision for EPS colleagues within one of the three geographical areas, as well as leading on key developments.  You will report to and assist the Principal Educational Psychologist in planning and delivering high quality services for children, young people, parents/carers, educational settings and the council.  For this role, Area Senior responsibilities are 0.5 fte, with the remaining aspect of the role providing generic educational psychology services within the geographical area.

The service continues to be highly valued by the council, children and young people, families and the educational settings we support, and we are committed to applying and promoting psychology creatively in order to make a positive difference for children and young people in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  We are proud of our service, fulfilling our statutory duties in a timely way and providing a consultation model of service delivery, along with a progressive and responsive training and development offer for educational settings and the wider workforce.

With children at the centre, our service works in genuine partnership with educational settings, families and partner agencies to ensure the best possible educational, social and emotional outcomes for children and young people.  The service has an influential role in the development and implementation of council policy and strategy, supporting with the coproduction of the East Riding of Yorkshires Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision guide, SENCO handbook, relational practice audit and EBSA graduated approach.  We are involved in developing the East Riding of Yorkshires Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Academy and are also supporting national NHS developments and initiatives, including the delivery of the East Riding of Yorkshires Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) with commissioned support one day per week from one of our Area Senior EPs and are part of the Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) training delivery.

As a service, we lead on critical incident support provided for educational settings.  We also provide a rolling programme of Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) training and supervision and deliver the Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training to schools and a range of practitioners working within the council.  All Educational Psychologists are encouraged to contribute to strategic developments and to develop an area of professional interest through our development working groups.  We actively contribute to SENCO forums and conference and the conference for designated teachers for children and young people who are and have been looked after.

We welcome applications from experienced HCPC registered educational psychologists (professional grade, specialist senior/senior) looking to be part of our leadership team in a dynamic, child-centred and well-staffed educational psychology service.

Our service has a commitment to the protection and safeguarding of children and young people following safeguarding statutory guidance including Keeping Children Safe in Education (2024), Working together to Safeguard Children (2023) and local ERSCP Guidance Effective support for children, young people and families in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  Guidance for all practitioners in working together to support families and safeguard children. 

When joining our team you can expect:

• a comprehensive induction into the service and local area
• regular professional supervision (including peer supervision) and CPD 
  opportunities to work strategically and to be involved in regional partnership and networks
• dedicated and efficient administrative support
• a friendly, professional and supportive team
• office space at County Hall, Beverley with agile and flexible working arrangements available
• comprehensive IT support with laptop, iPad or iPhone with email, internet and audio/video conferencing
• a generous relocation allowance

You must be able to drive and have access to your own vehicle for which a casual user car allowance (HMRC rates) will be paid from County Hall, Beverley where appropriate.

In addition to the advertised role we would welcome a discussion with experienced and HCPC registered Educational Psychologists interested in joining the service as an Associate Educational Psychologist, providing psychological advice as part of Education Health and Care Needs Assessments.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and is pursuing equality of opportunity in employment. Appointment is subject to an enhanced DBS check.

For an informal discussion: please contact Dr Catherine McKenna, Principal Educational Psychologist, email catherine.mckenna@eastriding.gov.uk or tel (01482) 394000 (option 4 then option 2). 

Application pack available via the link to apply.
Advert No:     ERYC005195.