Educational Psychologist

Team: Educational Psychology Service 
Salary: £45,636 - £55,449 per annum pro rata (Soulbury A 3-8) previously awarded SPA points will be honoured - Starting salary negotiable depending on experience + an additional £2,000 Market Rate Supplement payment per annum, pro rata

Hours: Full-time/Part-time considered 

Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month.

Contract Type: Hybrid - Permanent 
Closing Date:  3rd June 2024
Interviews:  21st June 2024

About the role:  

Our service is growing, and we have ambitious plans for the future.

CBC has an unwavering commitment to early intervention, supported all the way through by senior leaders in the LA. This commitment has been demonstrated by our recent return to a successful non statutory Link EP model through consultation as a method of service delivery.  

The EPS is part of SEND Specialist Services (Education, Support and Inclusion) and EPs work closely with SEND Advisors, Sensory Impairment Specialists and Special School Outreach Practitioners.

We are expanding our early intervention offer to settings and our parent/carer community with co-production instrumental in our design of services. Coproduction work has enabled us to successfully rollout Therapeutic Thinking to all schools in the LA with the EPS being central in the implementation plan for this approach. 

You will be joining an experienced SEND leadership team which includes Dr Helen Phelan (AD for SEND), Dr Karen Harris (Head of SEND Specialist Services and Principal Educational Psychologist) and Crystal Elkabbas (Deputy Principal EP).

As an Educational Psychologist in CBC, you will also benefit from a service that provides and promotes professional development (CPD) and ringfences allocated time for CPD as part of the service delivery. There are also a range of supervision opportunities including 1:1 line management supervision, peer / group supervision. research and resources meetings and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion reflective space which is all part of an EPs allocated service time.

If you are Educational Psychologist who is committed to LA practice, is ambitious for our children and young people and 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 a good fit 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.

If you are a practitioner who is motivated and energised by opportunities to apply your psychological skills to shape and develop services that ultimately support children and young people to achieve positive outcomes, please contact either Dr Karen Harris (Head of SEND Specialist Services and PEP) karen.harris@centralbedfodhisre.gov.uk  0300 300 4214 or Crystal Elkabbas (Dep. PEP) crystal.elkabbas@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk 0300 300 5337 for an informal discussion. We can also arrange for you to meet EPs in the team to find out more about us – this can be arranged via email.

In this post you will have opportunities to: 

• Deliver Educational Psychology Services both statutory and non-statutory, through working with a range of schools, local settings and services. 
• Contribute to the planning and delivery of training and interventions to schools and settings, parents/carers, children and young people and other teams/services
• Achieve positive and sustainable change for children and young people by working with the adults most concerned about them. 
• Work alongside Assistant Educational Psychologists who will support your work. 
• Explore your areas of interest and have opportunities to develop a specialism in line with service development plans and the LA’s SEN strategic plans, while meeting the needs of the council, through action research, participation projects and service user evaluations. 

You will need a recognised postgraduate training qualification in Educational Psychology or will have this qualification when you join us and meet the requirements for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as an applied psychologist as well as having the qualifications to hold BPS chartered membership.

The service encourages applications from candidates who are unrepresented in the profession.

Applications from Year 2/3 trainees are welcomed.

We can offer you an extensive induction package, hybrid working, excellent office facilities, free parking, comprehensive IT support, ring fenced CPD opportunities (12 days pro-rated) and high-quality personal/professional support from experienced colleagues. We recognise the importance of staff wellbeing and job satisfaction and promote regular face to face group and individual supervision.

Our Offer

We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page

Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer.  We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.

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You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.

For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Karen Harris at karen.harris@centralbedfodhisre.gov.uk or call 0300 300 4214

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Safeguarding:

Central Bedfordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers and contractors to share this commitment. This post is subject to the disclosure of criminal records.  

To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.

If you require assistance to apply for our roles, help with writing your CV, interview techniques or careers advice please contact our team of careers advisors at ncs@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk Our service is confidential, impartial and free for all.