Who we are
Our educational psychologists are qualified to work with children, parents and carers, and staff, and they're registered to practice by the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC).
As a service, we strive for continued development and improvement.
Our vision: Making a difference.
Our mission: Enabling positive change through listening, optimism and insight.
Our values: Respect, integrity, collaboration and kindness.
We have strong links with local universities who provide educational psychology doctorate training. We have several trainee educational psychologists working in our service and value the breadth of new knowledge and skills that they bring.
Who we work with
The Educational Psychology Service can work with children and young people aged 0 to 25 years old. While working together with parents and carers is an essential part of our work, the focus is on supporting the child within the educational setting.
Every school has an educational psychologist linked to them, and will have a Support and Planning meeting at least once a year with them. The work that the educational psychologist will do is agreed with a member of staff from the school, usually the headteacher or SENCO. If parents have concerns about their child, they should raise this with school staff in the first instance.
Most schools in Derbyshire subscribe to our service. There are 2 levels of subscription: standard and enhanced. Both are jointly funded by the school and the local authority (LA). Non-subscribing schools are entitled to one support and planning meeting per year with further support limited to statutory work or critical incident support only. All schools can request to ‘spot purchase’ further work in addition to any subscription. Schools should visit our S4S page for further details regarding subscription and purchasing.
Referrals to support pre-school children who are not in a maintained setting can be made to our service via the Early Years Panel.
We're also commissioned by the Local Authority or other organisations to do work that is not directly linked to specific schools. Example of this include providing professional supervision, offering training and engaging in research and projects.
What we do
Educational psychologists aim to help children enjoy their time in school, participate in all aspects of the school life and make the best progress possible. We do this by trying to understand any issues or problems that impact the child and help to remove any barriers.
We aim to be flexible and responsive, recognising that one size doesn't fit all. We use principles of applied psychology, work collaboratively with those involved with the child or young person, and put their needs at the heart of our work.
The ways in which we work
The ways in which we work include:
- Consultations - meeting with the adults around the child or young person to jointly discuss ways forward.
- Direct work with a child and observations.
- Intervention work with a child or young person.
- Training to school staff on a wide range of topics.
Flagship training events
Our flagship training events are
- The Derbyshire Behaviour Box.
- ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants).
- Annual Educational Psychology Service Conference.
We're happy to discuss individual training needs and design bespoke packages.
Other training courses
Other training courses we offer include
- Attachment.
- Resilience.
- Growth mind-set.
- Trauma.
- Self-care and emotional wellbeing.
- Critical incidents.
- Therapeutic stories.
- Positive psychology.
- Loss and bereavement.
- Precision teaching.
- Literacy difficulties.
- Autism.
- Emotional coaching.
- Understanding behaviour.
- Working with schools to develop systems or procedures within the school.
- Supporting staff wellbeing.
Where we're located
There are teams of educational psychologists working across Derbyshire based in Chesterfield, Buxton and Denby. The principal and deputy principal educational psychologists are based at Derbyshire County Council's County Hall.
Contact us
Telephone: 01629 533815
Email: EDPsych.Adminripley@derbyshire.gov.uk
Michael Lane - Principal Educational Psychologist and Strategic Lead for All Age Inclusion Support 0-25
Email: Michael.lane@derbyshire.gov.uk