Educational and Child Psychologist RBKC613530

Job Summary:

Salary range: £55,479 - £63,045 per annum 
Work location: London
Hours per week: 36
Contract type: Permanent
Vetting requirements: Enhanced DBS Check
Closing date: 20th May 2024
Interview date: 30th and 31st May 2024

About Us:

At the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster City Council, we share a vision of delivering a great quality of life to our residents. As such, we have teamed up to provide a high-quality bi-borough service that benefits from shared resources, and delivers the best possible outcomes for those who are in need of our expertise. We are therefore looking for 3 committed Educational Psychologists (EPs) to join us in our work. 

At the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster City Council, we share a vision of delivering a great quality of life to our residents. As such, we have teamed up to provide a high-quality bi-borough service that benefits from shared resources, and delivers the best possible outcomes for those who are in need of our expertise. We are therefore looking for 2 committed Educational Psychologists (EPs) to join us in our work. 

This is an exciting chance to become a member of a lively, diverse and friendly team that will provide a stimulating and supportive environment in which to pursue your career goals. Furthermore, this is a great opportunity to find a good work-life balance, as while we are ideally looking for full-time practitioners, we will also consider applications from those wanting to work part-time. 

It is important to us that we are reflective of the communities that we serve, so we would particularly welcome applications from all.

London is a multicultural city, and around half of the children and young people who attend our local schools come from families whose first language is not English. While this makes for great cultural richness within our schools, it also presents us with the complex yet stimulating challenge of developing a culturally-sensitive practice that is capable of engaging with children and families from all backgrounds. Working with families from a wide variety of cultures, this presents our team with the scope to develop creative and robust applied psychology skills, and it is against this fascinating backdrop that you could find an exceptional opportunity to support children, young people, families, schools and communities.

Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Educational Psychology Consultation Service (WKC-EPCS) is a visionary educational psychology service. Based at Kensington Town Hall in Central London, we combine home working with school visits and we attend a variety of additional setting. Benefitting from the experience of nearly 30 Educational Psychologists, trainees and support staff, we celebrate the rich variety of experience, expertise and approaches that exist within our team, and we have a strong history of embedding practice within our Consultation or Practice Framework. 

As a highly ambitious service, we have devised a progressive development plan for the coming year that includes enhancing our cultural competence, so there has never been a better time to join us. 

The Role:

As a member of our department within a specific area team, you will have the scope to work across the whole bi-borough area. Every day will present you with new challenges and opportunities, as you focus on improving the learning, achievement, social-emotional development and wider wellbeing of children and young people up to the age of 25. From supporting children with SEN whose parents have opted for home education, through to handling Independent Review Panels for permanently excluded pupils, you will strive to deliver positive outcomes for service users. You will also support our Traded Offer, in which you will help us meet our income generation targets through the buy-in of your time. We will encourage you to pursue applied research and development projects, so this is a unique opportunity to develop specialist approaches to identified areas of need.  

As a team, we are focused on keeping pace with the needs of our local community. To make the most of this interesting role, you will therefore be encouraged to further your skills and knowledge with the full support of our internal and external CPD opportunities, and you will also have the chance to join specialist working groups such as ‘Developing Culturally Inclusive Practice’, and ‘Exploring & Understanding Gender’. You will also have access to well-established educational psychology doctoral programmes and multi-agency partnerships, so we are confident that you will find a vast array fascinating fields to explore. We currently have colleagues who have been seconded to UCL and the Youth Offending Services, and with progressive training programmes such as the development of interventions based on Cognitive Behavioural Approaches and Video Interaction Guidance, there really is no saying where your career will take you.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information.

About You:

To be equal to this career-defining opportunity, you will be:

• A fully qualified and HCPC registered Educational Psychologist, or you will be eligible for registration.
• Committed to making a difference to the achievement and wellbeing of children and young people, plus their families and schools.
• Well-versed in evidence based or informed practice. As such, you will be both reflective and self-aware, with the capacity to evaluate the effectiveness of your work.
• Committed to always putting children, young people and their families first. It is vital that their opinions and wishes are always heard.
• Someone who relishes diversity. Specifically, you will be committed to providing opportunities for children and families from a range of communities and backgrounds.

When you join us, you can expect a genuinely unparalleled career opportunity. As part of a 'home county’ sized EPCS within central London, you will have access to the most interesting opportunities, with the scope to make a tangible difference to the wellbeing of young people and their families. With innovative technology and flexible hybrid working arrangements, we will see to it that you enjoy a great work-life balance, and your future will be taken care of with ongoing training and development opportunities (plus our full support to maintain your research interests), plenty of support and mentorship, and access to the Local Government Pension Scheme. 

Please apply online explaining how you meet the requirements set out in the person specification and job description. CV’s will not be considered for this role.