Lichfield/ Stafford/ Newcastle (On-Site)
Permanent, Full time
Basic DBS check required
£48,575 - £56,540 (Soulbury Educational Psychology Scale point 4-8)
37.0 hours per week
Do you have a passion to work creatively in applying psychology to achieve great outcomes for our children and families in Staffordshire?
Our Educational Psychology Service continues to grow and thrive. 2024/5 sees us playing a central role in operationalising Staffordshire’s new exciting Enhanced APDR pathway, as well as having been shortlisted for the Staffordshire Innovation Awards for our nationally renowned EP literacy approach and beginning new work supporting the teams in our Ofsted Outstanding children’s homes.
We have opportunities for enthusiastic and motivated Educational Psychologists to join our creative and friendly service.
Our service leads on many local authority wide initiatives, including our school non-attendance community of practice, supporting care experienced children as part of joint work with the Virtual School and our in-demand ELSA project.
We are a service that values pre-statutory, co-produced and collaborative psychology that ensures that our EP time is spent supporting schools improve their Graduated Approach rather than writing reports for EHCNA. We continue to use psychology in everything we do to change and improve the life experiences of children and families in Staffordshire.
Main ResponsibilitiesYou will join a district team and work collaboratively with other team members, assistants, and with multi-agency colleagues to improve outcomes for children, young people and families by:
- Working preventatively with a patch of schools through our traded package and SCC EAPDR process
- Supporting children and families in the Early Years
- Contributing to the Statutory process through EHC assessments
- Collaborating on research, service and practice development
- Contributing to service work on cross LA projects such as Trauma Informed, ELSA, PINS
- Taking part in a vibrant CPD programme and twice yearly CPD weeks, and supporting practice development of teams and colleagues
- Taking part in service development work on (for example) SCERTS, implementation science, equality and diversity
You will need:
- an honours degree in Psychology (or equivalent) recognised by the British Psychological Society (BPS)
- a recognised post graduate training and qualification in Educational Psychology.
- to be registered with the Heath and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
We are also interested in receiving applications from those who are due to qualify in September 2026. You must be registered with the Heath and Care Professions Council (HCPC) following completion of your recognised qualification in September 2026/7.
Pay scale – EP Soulbury A points 4 – 8, plus up to 3 SPA points where applicable.
We are also seeking EPs to work on short-term or sessional contracts and we have a 6 month maternity cover available in our Stafford office.
Locations for permanent roles include: Lichfield, Stafford and Newcastle offices
Proposed interview date is Thursday 24th October and candidates will be invited to interview on Monday 21st October
For an informal chat about the role please contact Melissa Jones, Principal Educational Psychologist on 07970 460188 or melissa.jones@staffordshire.gov.uk
About Staffordshire County CouncilWe are no ordinary county council:
Our Values:
The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.
Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:
We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.
We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.
Our benefits:
We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.
In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire
Our recruitment process:
As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities
As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.
As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.