Schools

School services:

  • Consultation: around individual children, classes, or areas of need
  • Assessment: of factors affecting experience of school (achievement, enjoyment, success, social relationships)
  • Staff support: individual/group supervision or problem-solving sessions
  • Intervention with students: individual/group (around motivation, resilience, emotionally based school avoidance, social skills, emotional regulation, exam stress/revision)
  • Training
  • Whole school strategic planning (policy/practice review; organisational change)

Consultation is a collaborative meeting with those involved in the educational support of a child. Ideally this should include parents, a key member of the staff, and options for the child/young person to participate in line with their needs and preferences. Consultation can be useful on its own to identify needs, goals and agree ways forward. It can also be part of ongoing assessment of a child.  

Assessment: Psychological assessment focuses on key questions that are relevant to how the child or young person is experiencing and managing in the school environment. If there is a need to understand why they might not be making progress in learning, assessment may look at underlying learning skills as well as motivation and access to teaching; if the need is around school anxiety, assessment will focus on emotional factors as well as social and learning factors that may be impacting on this. There is therefore not one set of assessments used for each child as the tools used are selected based on the presenting concern. The aim of the assessment is to have more insight into the situation so that any barriers to learning may be addressed and intervention tailored to support the pupil’s needs.

Intervention: Individual and small group intervention can be set up to work on a range of skills to address learning, social and wellbeing issues. This can include developing motivation, resilience, social skills, study skills, emotional regulation and problem solving.

Staff support: Staff support can be offered through monthly/half termly supervision for individual staff members or groups. One-off problem-solving sessions around a pupil or area can also be offered.   

Training: Training will be bespoke to the school but examples include:

  • Executive Functioning
  • ADHD
  • Autism
  • Working with challenging behaviour
  • Emotion coaching
  • Interventions for learning (literacy, numeracy, precision teaching)
  • Memory
  • Social skills
  • Critical incidents and bereavement support
  • Zones of regulation
  • Anxiety
  • Emotionally based school avoidance
  • Attachment and trauma

Evidence shows that one training is most effective when supported by a wider implementation plan. Additional support from EdPsych Insight can be offered to implement ideas from training through:

  • Direct work with identified members of staff to pilot or ‘champion’ approaches
  • Observation or video coaching on implementation
  • Staff support/problem solving groups

Follow up training sessions to review implementation

Whole school strategic planning: This is bespoke to the needs of the school but examples include:  

  • reviewing and implementing interventions for learning;
  • planning wellbeing and therapeutic support for students in a learning difficulties school, integrating ideas from cognitive behaviour therapy across the school
  • introducing SCERTS as a method to support pupils with autism in a special school
  • reviewing, updating and implementing behaviour/emotional regulation policies
  • reviewing and supporting the social inclusion of identified students
  • planning a sensory space for students in a student support centre so it is more inclusive for autistic children;
  • planning how to identify the speech and language needs of students on school entry.