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Kirklees Local Offer

Educational Psychology (EP) Service

Who are the Educational Psychology (EP) Service?

Educational Psychology are part of the Learning and Early Support Service and work with parents, schools and other agencies to support children and young people age 0-25.  Our role is to help school staff, parents and carers to:

  • find solutions to improve the learning outcomes of children and young people
  • support children and young people’s social and emotional development and wellbeing

We have all had experience of working with children and young people before qualifying as Educational Psychologists and are registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council.

What does an Educational Psychologist do?

We understand how children and young people learn and why they might experience difficulties with emotions.  We are most effective when working with the adult involved with a child or young person.  We aim to support parents, carers and school staff working with children in understanding their needs and planning the best way to help them make progress.

We can become involved where children and young people have a My Support Plan or an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where adults are concerned about the best way to support that child or young person and think there needs to be a significant change in the type of support required. Most of our work in schools is free however there are some aspects of our work that some schools have to pay for.

We hold termly planning meetings with SENCOs in schools and in these meetings, we discuss any concerns about children/young people and it is decided whether a referral to the EP team or another service might be helpful.  When we have these meetings your child’s details such as their name are not shared with us.  We will only ask for these details if a referral to our service is made following your consent. 

When a request for our involvement has been agreed we always have a meeting with school staff and parents/carers.  This is called a consultation meeting and everyone has the chance to share their perspective. 

We will talk about your child’s strengths and difficulties and work together to make sense of what might be happening.  We use this approach because we believe that working together with the adults who know a child well is essential to understanding the unique needs of any child or young person. Using this approach helps us to make sure that support is carefully tailored to suit the child and their school situation.

Often this is enough to decide what needs to happen next.  Occasionally we may all agree that we need to be involved further, for example, meet the child or observe them in class and this would be discussed further.

If you are concerned about your child’s progress or wellbeing in school, we advise that you speak with your child’s teacher or the school SENCo in the first instance. 

Previous Support plans in schools (IEP, ANP and MSP's)
Last updated: 24/11/2020