Educational Psychologist

We are looking for enthusiastic and skilled Educational Psychologists to join our team. Permanent contract, 37 hours per week.

The Educational Psychology Team

We are a team of 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.

Our team tell us that we are:

"A good place to work and a good team to work with. Amazing opportunities as a newly qualified EP. Professional views are valued from day one."

If you have a proactive approach, the ability to work flexibly and are committed to working in co-production with families and stakeholders, we would love to hear from you. You will be certain of a warm welcome, a thorough induction and a varied and interesting role in our team.

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.

The ideal candidate

Portsmouth Educational Psychology Team can offer you support and opportunities, whether you are at the start of your EP career or 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.

We also welcome applications from Trainee Educational Psychologists in their second or third year of training.

Please see the Job profile for the full details of this role

If you have any queries, please contact the Principal Educational Psychologist, Victoria Parker, Victoria.parker@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Interview date:

Friday 9th May 2025

Application process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

As part of your application we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in '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.

We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

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 Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616800