Educational Psychologist

The Royal Greenwich Educational Psychology & Wellbeing Service (EP&WS) has recently expanded and are offering the opportunity for reflective and resourceful Educational Psychologists (EPs) to support our hard-working, friendly and ambitious team of EPs, assistant EPs, EPs in training, counsellors, restorative approaches facilitators and business support staff.

 The EPWS is located within the Inclusion, Learning and Achievement division of the Children’s Services department, based at The Woolwich Centre in the heart of the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

 We offer a highly valued traded service to a range of schools, early years settings, post-16 and alternative providers, and pride ourselves on the effective working relationships that we have developed with service users. Partnership working is embedded within the culture of Royal Greenwich services for children, with the EPS playing a key role in the local partnership wellbeing strategy. The EPWS incorporates counsellors and restorative approaches facilitators and trainers, and EPs work in partnership with colleagues from CAMHS, Health and Social Care. In addition, our EPs hold dedicated specialist roles working alongside colleagues within the:

• Virtual School
• ASD Outreach Team
• Early Years Inclusion Team
• Inclusion Service
• Youth Justice Service
• Family Hubs (offering interventions to support parent-infant relationships).

 As a partly traded service we offer both the security and benefits of working for a Local Authority alongside greater opportunities to deliver a wide range of preventive work, projects and training. This helps to ensure a satisfying balance between statutory and non-statutory duties and we are pleased to have ongoing support from senior management to broaden our preventative offer.

 Across the service we promote a consultation model of service delivery, whilst also valuing and respecting the diversity of approaches and interests across the team.  We value child and family-centred practices and work creatively to develop bespoke intervention plans. There are opportunities for new colleagues to become involved in a range of projects on offer within the service, including:

• Supporting the delivery of our highly-regarded ELSA programme – both training and supervision.
• Delivering interventions including VIG, cognitive behavioural approaches, MeLSA and Emotion Coaching
• Running multi-family therapy groups.
• Developing a LA wide offer to support children and young people with ADHD.
• Delivering training, development programmes, supervision and coaching for school and setting staff.
• Providing organisational consultancy for schools and early years settings.

 The EPS has good links with university training providers and a strong commitment to supporting Educational Psychologists in Training.

 All EPs and EPiTs in the team contribute to ‘task and finish’ groups developing projects and training in a range of areas, which has included developing: Anti-Racism policy and practice, webinars for school staff, parents and professional groups, critical incident and sad event support materials, and resources to support person-centred approaches. We also have EP representatives within the Children’s Services ‘Tackling Structural Racism’ group.

 As a member of the team, you will benefit from:

• A supportive senior leadership team who are committed to the wellbeing of EPs and EPiTs across the service; wish to promote a fair and inclusive working environment; seek and are responsive to feedback; and show a strong commitment to anti-racism.
• Excellent working relationships and regular contact across the team.
• Excellent administrative support from our Psychology Support Officer.
• Opportunities to work alongside Assistant Educational Psychologists who support service delivery.
• An annual service CPD programme which includes whole-service and individual CPD time.
• Protected time for clinical supervision and CPD, including regular peer consultation groups.
• Separation of supervision and line management.
• Centrally located, environmentally friendly accommodation.
• Excellent transport links – including the Elizabeth Line.
• Opportunities for remote/hybrid working and IT equipment to support this (including a laptop or equivalent and ‘smart’ mobile phone).
• A good range of assessment resources and access to some of your own personal assessment tools to support your work.
• Free parking space and car mileage allowance as an essential car user.
• Support from our Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) rep (for AEP members).

 We would like to invite applicants who:

• Are able to creatively apply psychology in a range of settings, within the context of a consultation model of service delivery.
• Value working relationships with colleagues within the team, across Children’s Services and within the settings that they work.
• Are committed to child and family-centred approaches.
• Want to develop and grow as a practitioner in a dynamic and expanding team.
• Share our service commitment to anti-racist practice.

Applications are welcome from experienced EPs, recently qualified EPs and those in years 2 and 3 of training. For those new to the profession, please see the document ‘What to expect as a newly qualified EP in Royal Greenwich EPS’.

 Applicants must be registered with the HCPC or expect to be on completion of their training.

 We are also open to conversations with locum/ associate EPs.

 Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community, and particularly welcome those from people from Black and global majority backgrounds, disabled people, and people from other diverse communities who are currently under-represented within our organisation.

 Royal Borough of Greenwich is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. 

Due to the safeguarding nature of this role, references will be taken up prior to interviews (Please see attached Safeguarding Statement).

 If you would like to discuss this post informally, please contact;

• Rachel O’Connor (Acting Principal Educational Psychologist): 020 8921 4812/ o’connor@royalgreenwich.gov.uk
• Karen Freeman (Psychology Support Officer): 020 8921 4818 / freeman@royalgreenwich.gov.uk (who will put you in touch with one of our current Trainees or recently joined EPs).