Traded information for schools

Our vision is to use psychology to empower others to help children and young people learn, develop, and feel a sense of belonging. 

Our team has recently expanded to include eight Educational Psychologists (EPs) and an Impact Analyst. They will support us to improve the quality of our offer. All qualified psychologists in our team have a doctorate level qualification. They specialise in a leadership area within the service.

We also work closely with local universities, supporting three trainee EPs from the University of Bristol. As a non-profit, we put every penny we earn back into our services to prevent issues for young people in the local authority.

EP time offers a variety of support in schools. This can include:

• consultation
• assessment
• training
• supervision
• research projects

You can find more details about our work in the packages listed on this page. 

Our traded EP work for young people usually forms part of a step-by-step approach to meet their needs. This overlaps with the statutory (EHCP) work we do, ensuring a consistent approach and strong collaboration with the SEND Casework Team.

When a school makes a request for involvement, they will be asked which of the four categories the work falls in to. 

To help in this decision, we have written descriptions with examples for each of the these categories as a reference. 

Learning

Any EP work that relates to further exploring the learning needs of young people. 

To include (but not limited to)

• cognitive or dynamic assessment work 
• observation
• consultation with key stakeholders

Specific outcomes related to a young person’s learning development would be agreed as part of this assessment, using a time monitored evaluation framework.

Developing

This area relates to EP work which helps support any other areas of development for a young person outside of learning. 

To include (but not limited to)

• social thinking and/or communication
• emotional literacy
• self-esteem
• resilience

Belonging

Recognising the importance of this for children and young people, this area focuses on what helps a young person to develop their sense of belonging within a school. 

This work would be evaluated using valid and reliable measures of school belonging.

Staff confidence

EP work that equips school staff with improved knowledge and confidence to support children and young people in their school setting. 

Examples of work in this area could be

• staff CPD or training
• staff supervision or coaching
• ‘drop-in sessions’
• consultation-based support

How to purchase our services

Schools can purchase our services via the Support Services for Education website where they will need to be logged in.

Another purchasable service is the Analysis of Additional Needs Tool (AANT). 

AANT is the first stage of an Educational Psychologist's assess-plan-do-review process. It is a chance for school staff to work together with an Educational Psychologist to explore a learner's strengths and needs using a video consultation.

For more information, see our dedicated AANT webpage. 

Please contact us to make an enquiry or for more information at eps@n-somerset.gov.uk.