Senior Educational Psychologist

North Northamptonshire Council; Kettering; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority council in Kettering seeks a qualified Educational Psychologist to lead and support services aimed at maximizing inclusion for children and young people. You will manage a team of psychologists and provide psychological consultation to address local educational priorities. The ideal candidate will have significant experience and a commitment to educational inclusion and achievement within statutory frameworks. This role offers a competitive salary and opportunities for professional development.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Pension scheme

Generous leave entitlement

Flexible working arrangements

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• You must have significant experience as an Educational Psychologist.
• In-depth knowledge of the statutory framework guiding educational psychologists is required.
• Experience managing professionals or projects is essential.

Responsibilities

• Contribute leadership and psychological consultation to the local authority.
• Manage and supervise the area team of educational psychologists.
• Decide on appropriate responses to service involvement requests.

Skills

Experience working with children & young people

Leadership skills

Ability to demonstrate initiative and innovation

Education

Honours Degree in Psychology or equivalent

Postgraduate professional training in educational psychology

Job description

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About the role

Do you make a real difference to the lives of children and young people?

We are very proud of our effective, friendly and supportive service, and you will be working alongside other committed professionals to maintain high standards. We are significantly involved in leading the current drive within the LA to maximise inclusion in our local educational settings. We are currently leading on developing and co‑producing a strategy for all schools to be trained in relational approaches and trauma informed practice and to embed these in their policies and practice. And we have 4 Specialist Senior Educational Psychologists in post leading on developing inclusive practice: for children with a social worker; for children in the early years; for children who are neuro‑diverse; and for children who are at risk of social exclusion.

You’ll deliver a psychological service through consultation and working with individual and groups of children, parents and carers, schools and early years providers, the local authority and partner agencies.

This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of children and young people, through addressing more smartly the increased demand in accessing ours and related services.

What will you be doing?

As part of the management team, you will contribute leadership and psychological consultation to the local authority – especially regarding its current priorities.

You’ll manage and give professional support and supervision to the area team of educational psychologists; and act as the representative of the Principal Educational Psychologist.

You will decide on the appropriate form of area response to requests for service involvement, including critical incidents; and manage the delivery of Psychological Services to the locality area.

Alongside management and leadership role, the SEP will provide generic work for up to 40% of their time.

About you

As a fully qualified educational psychologist you will have:

• An Honours Degree in Psychology or equivalent qualification giving Graduate Basis for Registration with the British Psychological Society
• Significant experience of working with children & young people
• Successfully followed a course of specific post graduate professional training as an educational psychologist recognised for registration with the Health & Care Professions Council.

You will have significant experience as an Educational Psychologist and experience of managing professionals or projects.

You will have in‑depth knowledge of the statutory framework which guides the work of educational psychologists.

You will be able to demonstrate evidence of a commitment to maximise educational achievement & inclusion and the ability to demonstrate initiative and innovation.

You’ll have leadership skills and the ability to provide a balance of support and challenge to others.

Our benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill‑health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work‑life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About us

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Our values

• Customer‑focused
• Respectful
• Efficient
• Supportive
• Trustworthy

Our Key Commitments

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

North Northamptonshire Council re‑signed the Armed Forces Covenant in June 2024 which highlights the Council's pledge to support the Armed Forces community. The council obtained the silver status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) and we are now currently working towards achieving Gold status.