Educational Psychology Service

Here at Doncaster we work within a consultation model, we are a relatively small service and to work effectively we hold Pyramid Planning Meetings (PPMs). These take place across 4 Areas (North, South, East and Central). There are PPMs each term for each Pyramid.  A Pyramid is the secondary school/s and all of its primary feeders*. Each pyramid is covered by an EP and an Assistant EP. Also attending these meeting are colleagues from the Autism Social Communication Education and Training Service (ASCETS), Behavioural Outreach Support Service (BOSS), Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) but there can be colleagues from other services attending, eg, Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), Special Educational Needs Coordinators etc. School SENDCos are expected to attend the meeting which is held at a volunteer host school in the Pyramid. If the SENDCo is unable to attend, a representative from their school should attend in their place (eg, Inclusion Manager, Deputy Head or Headteacher).

The meetings are an opportunity for schools and services to get together, discuss next steps for children and share good practice. Schools are expected to come to the PPMs prepared, with relevant information and having sought verbal parental consent if a child is going to be discussed.  Collectively, possible solutions are proposed with opportunity for neighbouring schools to share good practice, resources and, even, to provide training. Where appropriate one (or more) of the agencies at the meeting may become involved (if they’re not already).

At the end of the meeting all parties will have made dates with the schools to complete work across the term if applicable and the next meeting date will be set at a convenient time and date.

Twice a term all schools will be offered an opportunity for a Consultation Surgery with their Educational Psychologist. These are 1 hour consultations that focus on discussing difficulties in the school or next steps for CYP on a 1:1 basis between the EP and the SENCo. Schools are expected to attend Pyramid Planning Meetings initially to be able to arrange a Consultation Surgery with the EP, as this is where Consultation Surgeries are organised. Any discussion about particular children that takes place on an consultation surgery should be done with written parental consent, it is the responsibility of the SENCo to seek this before discussion with the EP. During a Consultation Surgery the SENCo sets the agenda, this may be whole school discussions, whole class discussion or discussion about an individual child. The Consultation serves as a way for the EP and the SENCo to problem solve together and to come to next steps jointly.

Statutory work is part is an essential part of our core offer of support to settings, generally speaking, the EP for the area will complete the Statutory advice. The SEND CoP  stipulates the Advice must be completed within 6 weeks.  This will normally involve meeting the child or young person, speaking with their family and meeting with the SENCo or class teacher at their school.

We are a partially traded service. For us, this means that we do not trade core work, however, we do trade training through Buy Doncaster. We began trading our training in the academic year 2017/18. We provide varied packages of traded training for settings and all of the courses can be found on the BuyDoncaster website. Examples of training we have run include Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme, SENDCo 101 and Restorative Practice.

Doncaster Educational Psychology Service offers a DfE-quality assured training on Mental Health and Wellbeing at school. This training aims to empower attendees to become confident and knowledgeable at promoting mental health and wellbeing across their setting.

On this course we will provide you with two full days of in person training, plus 3 hours of 1:1 supervision and 3 hours of group supervision.

The Department for Education (DfE) is offering a grant of £1,200 for eligible state-funded schools and colleges in England to train a senior mental health lead to develop and implement a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. This training is not compulsory, but it is part of the government’s commitment to offer this training to all eligible schools and colleges by 2025.

You can find out more information about how to request the funding here.

For booking into the training please visit the Buy Doncaster website

For inquiries regarding this training please contact: EducationPsychology@doncaster.gov.uk