Educational Psychologist

Job details:

Salary: £40,838 to £50,584 p.a.

Hours: 37 Hours

Contract: Permanent 

Relocation Package: We can offer a relocation package of up to £8,000 for those successful candidates who may be eligible.

Closing date: 15th October 2023

Interview date: 1st November 2023

Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is a needs-led Local Authority where relationships are valued as the foundation upon which the most effective and positive change can be supported.

Portsmouth is a small, high population area. This means that there is a wide range of varied work supporting our community's diverse needs. Portsmouth has been named as one of 24 Priority Education Investment Areas that have been identified for targeted support and intervention by the government. Plans are currently being developed by the Portsmouth Education Partnership. 

DBS Disclosure at Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. 

 Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children’s Board safer recruitment procedures.

The Educational Psychology Team 

We are a team of fourteen supportive, enthusiastic and skilled educational psychologists with experience ranging from our highly valued trainees to those who have been with the service for many years - which is testament to our positive approach.

We are part of the Inclusion Service in Portsmouth City Council's Education Department and our key purpose is to help promote all aspects of a child or young person's development by using psychology to make a positive difference. The EP Team is held in high regard with involvement valued across a range of projects in education and social care. We operate a model of traded service which allows us to support schools directly and focus on early intervention. We also fulfil the statutory function of the Education Department and have built strong relationships with our SEN Team which enables collaborative working.

The Role:

The post will include:

• Applying psychology through the delivery of services to a cluster of schools within Portsmouth.
• Multi-agency working to support children and families.
• Opportunities to engage in the development and delivery of training and workforce development across the city, for example Restorative and Attachment Aware approaches and ELSA.
• Opportunities to engage in strategic developments; for example, with SEMH, and Neurodiversity and literacy difficulties.
• Opportunities to work with EPs to develop our practice and policy, always aiming to improve outcomes for children and young people.
• Contribution to the statutory assessment and monitoring and review of children with SEND.
• Autonomy to employ the evidence-based psychological practice that you feel best meets needs (e.g., dynamic and standardised assessment methods used equally across the team).
• Full working knowledge and adherence to the underlying values, principles and policy of Portsmouth Local Safeguarding Children's Board, including integrated working responsibilities, early help and safeguarding practices.

What you'll need to succeed

Who is the person?

Portsmouth Educational Psychology Team can offer you support and opportunities, whether you are at the start of your EP career of if you are looking for a new challenge or change. 

You must:

• Be a qualified Educational Psychologist or be in your second or third year of EP training, registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), or, in the case of trainee EPs, expecting to have their registration confirmed following the completion of their recognised training course.
• Possess a sound base of current psychological knowledge and skills and have an awareness of current issues in education and psychology and be able to apply this to practice.
• Have full working knowledge and adhere to the underlying values, principles and policy of Local Safeguarding Children's Board, including integrated working responsibilities, early help and safeguarding practices.
• Have good personal presentation and credibility with a range of potential client groups.Have the ability to work individually and as part of a team (these are equally important in this role). Value working with people and demonstrate a relational approach, with parents, children, young people and professionals.

Please read the job profile for the full details of this role   

What you'll get in return

We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potentials with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards:

• Generous annual leave (27 days per year rising to 31, pro rata for part time hours) with the potential to purchase additional leave .
• A fantastic pension which allows you the opportunity to pay in more for that greater return.
• Flexible working hours. 
• Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships.
• Extensive wellbeing support through the Employee Assistance Programme 
• Discount on travel, travel loans and the bike loan scheme
• Discounts on a wide range of goods and services – access a range of discounts and offers from thousands of restaurants, shops and more.

Staff rewards: https://careers.portsmouth.gov.uk/working-for-the-council/

Additional Information:

The full job profile is attached here

Contact Details for an Informal Discussion:

If you have any queries, contact the EP team on 023 9284 1191 (8:30am to 5:00pm Monday to Thursday, 8:30am to 4:00pm Friday) or email:

Principal Educational Psychologist: Caoimhe.weeks@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Senior Educational Psychologist: Victoria.parker@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Senior Educational Psychologist: Caitriona.scully@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Application process:

We are a disability confident employer - committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible and welcome applications from all areas of society.

Remember to demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had. 

Applicants will be shortlisted based on their ability to use good examples that meet the criteria of this role.

Please ensure you provide your full education history from secondary school, include name/address of establishment, details of relevant qualifications & awarding body. Please explain any gaps - this is essential for all safeguarding children's roles.

You may wish to attach an additional letter or document to supplement you application.

We will email applicants from time to time; please ensure you check e-mail folders as sometimes our e-mails may go into spam/junk folders.