Schools/FE

Each Leicester City school has a named EP who meets twice yearly with school staff to agree a plan of work for the school.

Further information

Referrals

Referrals to the service normally follow initial support and intervention by the school as part of the graduated approach to meeting special educational needs and can only be made with parental consent and following discussion with the relevant EP.

Schools can make a SEND services referral - request specialist advice and support for a child or young person.

Parents/carers can also contact the Psychology Service directly, either by telephone, letter or email if they wish to seek advice about their child.

EP work

EPs provide support and consultation to school staff as well as undertaking work with individual children where there are concerns about their development, learning and/or emotional well-being. Once a referral has been agreed, the EP may hold an initial consultation with relevant staff to clarify the concerns and decide an appropriate course of action. This may involve further discussion with the child or young person, parents/carers and others to agree an appropriate joint plan of action that addresses the concerns that have been identified. The EP may carry out further assessment and information gathering in order to support an appropriate plan of action. The EP would normally join the relevant staff, other involved professionals, parents/carers and the child or young person (where at all possible) to review the plan and decide next steps. The EP will seek to promote participation of the child/ young person in any plans that are made for them.

The SEND code of practice (Jan 2015) contains detailed advice on the graduated approach to meeting children’s special educational needs. This would normally be the framework within which the EP works with the school.

The Service is responsible for providing psychological advice as part of a statutory Education, Health and Care assessment under the Children and Families Act 2014 where this has been agreed by the local authority.

Training

The named EP for the school can also offer consultation, training, project work and research to support whole school improvement. This work may be as part of the school Self-Evaluation Form priorities or as part of a joint local authority action plan for a school in special measures.

Requests for any additional work (including training) should be discussed with the EP for the school. All training will be provided on a traded basis and details of courses provided by the service in partnership with other services can be accessed in the Meeting Individual Needs training offer. Further details are also available by contacting the service directly.