Educational Psychologist

ACHIEVING FOR CHILDREN COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY; City Of London; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

29 days annual leave

Salary scale and LGPS/Teachers Pension

Flexible working options

Employee Assistance Programme

Staff benefits and discounts

Learning and development opportunities

Job summary

Achieving for Children is seeking an Educational Psychologist to join a highly regarded EP team serving Kingston and Richmond. The role emphasizes inclusive practice, early intervention, supervision, and cross-borough systemic work to influence service development.

You will contribute to safeguarding, partnership work, and high-quality evidence-based psychology, with opportunities for reflective supervision and protected time for training and service development.

Qualifications

• Post graduate professional qualification in Educational Psychology.
• Good Honours degree in Psychology or equivalent recognised by BPS and GBR.
• Active HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist (Educational Psychologist) and ongoing CPD.

Responsibilities

• Direct, relevant and appropriate work with children and young people (0–25 years) in educational, childcare or community settings.
• Apply psychology to benefit children and young people across diverse settings.
• Work within a consultative service delivery framework and contribute to systemic practice.

Skills

Direct work with children and young pe

Systemic practice

Consultative framework

Evidence-based practice

Education

Post graduate qualification in Educational Psychology

Honours degree in Psychology (BPS GBR)

HCPC registration as Educational Psychologist

Job description

About the role

As an Educational Psychologist for Achieving for Children you will be joining:

• An EP team which is highly regarded by schools and other services/organisations across Kingston and Richmond.
• A service at the forefront of local SEND developments, with EPs playing a key role in shaping inclusive practice, early intervention and strategic reform initiatives.
• A collaborative EP team, where working together is encouraged and opportunities to work in pairs or small groups are routinely built into our practice.
• An EPS that highly values supervision, offering both group and individual supervision to support reflective, safe and effective practice.
• A service which successfully commissions and trades with a wide range of stakeholders, allowing for creative and interesting systemic and early intervention opportunities.
• A service which keeps psychological theory and research at the forefront of all our practice and work, and is committed to providing a high-quality evidence-based psychological service to children and young people in our communities.
• A service which highly values professional development and service development. As such, we ensure there is protected time for all EPs to work collectively and systemically. Our safeguarded time enables us to focus on training, service development, project work and early intervention.
• A service that is a well-established part of Kingston and Richmond schools' assess, plan, do and review cycles ensuring that statutory activity is kept at a manageable level and focused on 'making the difference'.

About you

To be an Educational Psychologist for AfC, you will be passionate about making a positive difference to the lives of children and young people as well as demonstrating the following points:

• Committed to operating within a consultative framework, can demonstrate awareness of how to make an impact in applying psychology to affect change, and view teamwork and peer support as key factors in a successful service.
• Ability to use, describe and explain psychological concepts, theories, research and practice in a way which enthuses others and adds to their understanding.
• Interested in working systemically across two boroughs and committed to early intervention.

Qualifications

• Post graduate professional qualification in Educational Psychology.
• Good Honours degree in Psychology or equivalent recognised by BPS and which satisfies the BPS' requirements for graduate basis for registration (GBR).
• Active registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Practitioner Psychologist (Educational Psychologist) and proven evidence of continuing professional development.

Skills and experience

• Direct, relevant and appropriate work with children and young people (0 - 25 years) within educational, childcare or community settings.
• The experience of the application of psychology to the benefit of children and young people in a variety of settings.
• A clear understanding of the skills involved in operating within a consultative framework of service delivery which does not focus primarily on statutory work.
• 'Conscious competence' regarding the models of psychology being drawn on in day-to-day work, including the ability to apply interactionist and systemic frameworks to facilitate change.
• Ability to use, describe and explain psychological concepts, theories, research and practice in a way which enthuses others and adds to their understanding.
• Experience of addressing specific equality or diversity issues within your practice with colleagues/service users and taking action to solve them.
• Clear and detailed understanding of the legislative framework under which Local Authorities/Social Enterprises now operate.
• Knowledge of current educational policy and practice particularly in relation to the implementation and current assessment of the National Curriculum.
• Experience of building strong partnerships, maintaining relationships and co-producing solutions to challenges across a diverse set of stakeholders, including children, young people and their families. Advocating the voices of those we are working with.

Please note: This post is not paid on Soulbury terms and conditions and an enhanced DBS is required.

About our benefits

We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:

• 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month (Or for term-time workers, your leave entitlement consists of the non-working periods in your contract)
• Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
• Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
• Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
• A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
• A range of staff benefits and discounts
• An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway

Important Information

Start dates: Achieving for Children have set start dates meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.

Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.

Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.