**SCC Use**
Policy on Educational Psychology Service [EPS]
Working Practices 2016/17
Introduction
Staffordshire EPS is commissioned by the County Council to provide a range of services to meet statutory, local authority and locality requirements.
Educational Psychologists (EPs) must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and meet British Psychological Society requirements for registration. The practice of EPs is governed by a range of requirements, including, but not restricted to:
- HCPC Standards of proficiency for practitioner psychologists 2010
- BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct 2006
- BPS Ethical Trading – Guidelines for practice for educational psychologists 2013
EPs apply the principles of psychology to support problem solving, assessment and intervention, carry out research and identify best practice in all aspects of child development and education, including well-being and emotional health.
The main focus of EP work in Staffordshire is to improve outcomes for children and young people. This is achieved through early intervention with children and families and support toschools and settings to increase their capacity to meet special educational needs. Further goals for the EPS are to improve inclusion, increase parental satisfaction with educational provision, reduce the demand for specialist assessment and intervention and reduce the number of tribunals.
The work of the EPS directly supports the County Council’s key priority to ensure that children get a good start in life and receive a good education, with access to appropriate help at the right time
A statutory requirement of EP work is the preparation of psychological advice for Education Health and Care Plans. EPs work within the guidelines of the SEN Code of Practice, which describes an Assess, Plan, Do, Review model of assessment over time.
The EPS will seek to ensure equitable support across the county and equitable workload across teams and individual EPs. Managers will quality assure all aspects of service delivery through a range of means.
Time management model
The EPS time managementmodel is based around the unit of half day sessions for a maingrade EP during term time (39 weeks per year). The model is for guidance, to aid planning and diary management andis used flexibly by EPs and managers.
Work with Schools
The EPS structure is based around a broad allocation of one full-time EP to each Local Support Team area, approximately 25 schools. There is some variation to this where the number of schools within an LST is exceptionally high.The main priority for EP work, apart from completion of statutory duties, is to work collaboratively with schools.
Schools do not have a specified time allocation, but are expected to work with the named EP for the school to prioritise children and young people with the greatest need. EPs will work with children and young people who meet thresholds of need described in SEN: A Graduated Response. When negotiating direct requests for involvement, EPs are encouraged to prompt schools to prioritise Looked After Children, children in the early years, and children within other vulnerable groups.
EPs will try to work with all children and young people within a school or setting who meet criteria within an academic year, through consultation or direct work. When this is not possible, the school EP will discuss workload management with the District Senior EP [DSEP]. If needs cannot be met from within district resources, the DSEP will inform the County Manager, who will advise commissioners.
Parental consent must be obtained for the EP to undertake any involvement with a child or young person.
The types of work which may be offered by EPs include:
- Collaborative consultation with school staff and parents;
- Assessment within the Code of Practice. This may include observation and assessment in different contexts, data collection, and advice to staff on the development of effective teaching and learning strategies;
- Guidance on intervention as part of the graduated response within the Code of Practice. This may include target setting, preparation and implementation of Individual Education Plans;
- Interventions with small groups or individual children / young people to facilitate the development of emotional well-being;
- Support to promote inclusive practice;
- Partnership working with Local Support Teams and other professionals;
- Transition planning from early years and across school phases;
- Training and support in a range of areas of development including challenging behaviour, anti-bullying strategies and social and emotional development.
- Headteacher support and school development.
At present, academies receive the same access to EP support as maintained schools, although this will be kept under review.
ROLE OF THE SCHOOL / ACADEMY
The school is expected to provide the following:
Parental consent for EPS involvement and information sharing;
Commitment to,and adequate resource for, partnership working with parents and other professionals;
Clear expectations and outcomes for negotiated work
An appropriate working environment for visiting EPs;
Access to appropriate risk assessments;
Clear records of previous support provided
A minimum of 2 days’ notice of changes to arrangements for visits
Planning for the use of EP time across the full year
The opportunity for cooperative and mutually respectful joint working
ROLE OF THE EPS
EPs will commit to providing a service that is punctual, timely, effective and respectful of professional views, with clear communication of agreed outcomes and further actions.
In addition, the EPS will ensure:
- EPs meet Health and Caring Professionals Council requirements and are fully DBS checked
- Quality assurance procedures are in place;
- Services are reviewed and evaluated
- Staff comply with all relevant SCC policies including the Corporate Complaints Policy such that concerns are dealt with promptly and effectively.
LA Commissioned Work
A full-time EP will have 2 half days per week [78 sessions] available for LA commissioned work during a school year. LA Commissioned work will include a range of duties including, but not restricted to:
- Statutory assessment [from the point at which it is agreed by the local authority and will usually include final data collection and the preparation of psychological advice].
- Tribunals [planning meetings, additional data collection and attendance at Tribunals].
- Critical Incident Response.
- Restrictive Physical Intervention support
- Support to Looked After Children [maximum 10 sessions per district].
- Work agreed by the County Manager or DSEPs at County and District decision-making meetings [to include assessment of Electively Home Educated pupils and others in exceptional circumstances].
Early Years
One half day per week is identified for the completion of all aspects of early years assessment, for work derived from the Early Years Forum, including transition. If a child moves to an assessment placement, time taken to complete the assessment is taken from EY allocated time.
Service Responsibilities
Time is allocated to service responsibilities to ensure EPs are able to maintain compliance with SCC, HCPC and service requirements and deliver the service effectively.
Professional development comprises 12 days for CPD (pro rata for part-time staff), which will include 3 days for service sessions and time for maintenance of a CPD log (as per HCPC requirements). Where possible, professional development activities are planned to take place during school closure periods.
Contingency time
The staffing model described allows some additional capacity within the service, to take account of changes in workload, staff absence and other factors. DSEPs will monitor demand across the county half termly and, if necessary, direct EPs to undertake specific tasks. This may, in some circumstances, require work in other districts.
Traded services
The EPS offers a range of courses on topics including attachment and RPI. Such courses are offered centrally or can be arranged directly with the named EP for a school. In addition, EPs can plan and deliver bespoke training sessions in response to school or setting needs.
Where the EPS has available capacity, schools and academies are able to purchase additional EP time at a cost of £300 per half day session [2.5 hours].
Plans are underway to deliver all EP services as part of a traded offer with effect from September 2017.
Additional Services
In addition to the functions described above, the EPS provides, or contributes to, a range of specialist services. These include, but are not restricted to:
- Decision-making at the Single Point of Access
- Early Years Forum
- PROACT-SCIPr-UK®
- Restrictive Physical Intervention training and support
Julia Anderson
County Manager Educational Psychology Service September 2016
JA September 2016 Service Delivery to schools Page 1 of 5