Educational Psychology Service

Enfield Educational Psychology Service (EPS) is the main provider of psychological services to Enfield schools. We have direct links to services in education, health and social care, enabling a coordinated approach.

The EPS works at different levels with schools to support children and young people’s learning and wellbeing. This includes applying psychology with:

• Whole-school work such as training, projects and policy development.  Some whole-school initiatives with EPS involvement are delivered at no cost to schools, such as My Young Mind Enfield, E-TIPSS, ECASS and EASA.

• Staff development, e.g. training and supervision/reflective practice support.

• Individual children and young people and their families, where there are concerns about their learning, development, emotional wellbeing or behaviour.

• Groups of children and young people, e.g. facilitating workshops or delivering interventions such as managing anxiety.

• Groups of parents and carers, e.g. facilitating workshops or deliver parenting programmes. Please note that some parenting programmes delivered with EPS involvement are accessible at no cost to schools through EASA, ECASS and SWERRL.

We work with you to identify your priorities for each term, and to agree the way we will work together. This planning time will need to be factored into your purchasing.

When we work with individual children and young people (on SEN Support or with an EHCP), your school and families can expect:

• A first meeting (consultation) bringing together parents and school staff to explore what is going well, what the child’s needs might be, and to identify what we might need to find out more about.

• Further assessment as agreed together. We might observe the child in their classroom or playground, have more conversations with school staff or parents, or do some individual work or assessment with the child. We will usually meet with the child to understand their views of the situation.

• A feedback and action planning meeting (where needed), bringing together parents and school to come to a shared understanding about the child’s needs, and to agree together the next steps to support the child.

• Review meetings (where needed). It may be that further thinking or information is needed to ensure that the support in place is helping.

• A written record following direct work. This sets out the work we have done, the shared sense of the child’s strengths and needs, and the agreed support plan/recommendations. This will usually have been discussed with schools and parents/carers along the way, so it typically does not contain new information. If we are joining a school review meeting, schools will usually provide the written record or updated IEP/LSP.

The EPS staff includes:

• Qualified Educational Psychologists who are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

• Trainee Educational Psychologists who are enrolled on approved training courses and work under the supervision of qualified EPs within the team.

• Assistant Educational Psychologists who work in partnership and under the direction of our qualified EPs.

• Qualified Locum and Associate Educational Psychologists (for statutory work only).

The EPS also offers some services which are commissioned by the Local Authority – there are no additional charges to schools for these services:

• Providing psychological advice as part of a child or young person’s Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment.

• Offering a rapid response to school leadership teams to support them in helping their school community following a critical incident or sad event. Please e-mail eps@enfield.gov.uk to access this help. 

• EPS involvement through other multi-disciplinary teams, i.e. EASA, ECASS, Youth Justice Service, Virtual School for LAC/CiN/CP, My Young Mind Enfield (MYME) and SWERRL.

The EPS evaluates all of our work, using parent/carer and school surveys and other approaches.

Pricing - for 2024/2025

• Last year (2023/24) the EPS introduced a team of Assistant Educational Psychologists who worked in partnership with HCPC registered Educational Psychologists.  We will be continuing to offer this model in 2024/25.  Based on our experience and feedback we have adjusted the ratio of Educational Psychologist to Assistant Educational Psychologist.

• The day rate is dependent on the number of days schools purchase and takes into account the cost differential for Educational Psychologist and/or Assistant EPs. 

• Alongside this partnership model, schools can purchase unlimited amount of Assistant EP time to be used to provide training and interventions in school.  This time cannot be used for individual casework.

• As requested, schools will be able to buy into individual or group supervision/reflective practice support.  

• As with last year, we will not be able to accept mid year purchasing.  We therefore strongly encourage schools to request what they want now to avoid disappointment.

What our schools and parents/carers say

The EPS evaluate all of our work, using parent/carer and school surveys and other approaches.

A few quotes from our school survey:

“Really joined up support and advice leading to improved outcomes for children and staff.”

“Reflective spaces for senior leaders have helped strategically. Thank you.”

“The EPs are fantastic and have great insight and suggestions.”

“We have benefitted from receiving a mixture of support for children and staff.”

“Thank you for all the work you do to support me, as well as, the children in my school.”

“We have had a really great service from the EPS this year and have very much appreciated the hard work and support of those involved.”

“We find our EP to be very supportive and realistic about life in school. She sets targets that we can achieve and work toward.”

“I really think this is great support for our work with students.  To have extra support and advice was great. Before this new role, we always welcomed trainee EP(s) to support development and training.”

“I have been lucky to have an experienced EP this year a trainee who has also been brilliant. I have enjoyed working with them and it helps to shape my thinking and knowledge.”

“Having an assistant EP has been really helpful and meant that I could share our EP time.”

“The partnership model means that we are receiving a wider package of support.”

They [EP and Assistant EP] worked really well together.  Communicated well and it was so helpful.”

Parents and carers say:

Our parent/carer satisfaction survey 22/23 found that over 85% of parents/cares agreed or strongly agreed that they felt listened to, their views were valued and that the EP helped to identify their child’s strengths and needs and agree a clear way forward.

A few quotes:

“Very helpful and friendy. The Trainee EP was amazing and took into account all she was told.”

“Very happy to have an outcome and for my daughter to be helped.”

“The EP was very pleasant and communicated clearly.”

Additional Assistant EP Time

Schools can purchase additional Assistant EP time to provide training and interventions as follows:

• Training on a wide range of topics relating to all four Code of Practice areas, for teachers and support staff.

• Workshops and modelling in delivering interventions across the whole range of needs.

• Direct delivery of interventions, including monitoring and evaluation.

• Workshops for children and young people, on a range of topics including transition support.

• Workshops and topic-based coffee mornings for parents and carers.

We invite schools to state the number of AsEP days.  We welcome contact to discuss your needs ahead of purchasing to guide your decision about the number of days needed.
 

Supervision/Reflective Spaces

Part of trauma-informed practice is building resilience in the adults around the child & family.  The EPS will be offering individual and group supervision/reflective spaces, which schools can buy into.

Group Supervision/Reflection Spaces

• Size of group - 6-8 members.  This will be a closed group once started. 

• Membership – we will try to group staff by their main role, e.g. Deputy Head, SENCO, DSL, Senior Mental Health Lead, Class teacher.  

• Duration of session - 1.5 hours.

• Frequency – Half termly

• Modality - online

• What it looks like: The psychologist will provide a facilitated, protected, non-judgemental space. A ‘Reflecting Team’ approach will be used to provide a structured framework for processing and reflection.  This will provide the opportunity to explore the emotional impact of the professional role and deepen understanding.   Group members will have an experience of a model that they will be able to take away and use within their own settings. There will be a group agreement in relation to confidentiality. Feedback and evaluation will be integrated into the sessions.

Individual supervision/Reflective space

• Offered individually

• Duration – One hour

• Frequency – 9 over the course of the year (between April 2024 and March 2025)

• Modality – online

• What it looks like: A supervision contract will be agreed from the outset which includes agreement in relation to confidentiality.  Supervisees will be provided with a protected, non-judgemental space to think, reflect and learn.  This provides the opportunity to explore the emotional impact of the professional role and deepen understanding. This is not intended to be a replacement for personal therapy. Feedback and evaluation will be integrated into the sessions.