Who we are
We are a professional support service provided by the Department for Children and Young People to enable it to meet its statutory obligations under the Children Act of 1989 and the 1996 Education Act and to further the broader objectives of the council to provide appropriately for the education and welfare of all children and young people in South Gloucestershire.
What we do
Whilst our service is delivered principally through visits to schools and settings, we spend a significant amount of service time involved in the early identification of pre-school children who may have special educational needs.
Our work in schools will focus on early intervention, removing barriers to learning, building capacity in schools and raising expectations and achievement. We deliver our Service principally through consultation with school staff, parents, pupils and other services and agencies, to help address and support the concerns raised. Our Service is accessible to users independently of schools. We will operate within the Council’s Equalities Policy.
Increasingly, EPs will be working in schools to help deliver integrated support to children and young people with additional needs as a member of a locality, multi-agency team via the CAF assessment process.
The involvement of parents in our work is crucial. Meetings in school between parents, school staff and the school's psychologist are considered essential and help promote good communication about the needs of the pupil and the concerns raised. Psychologists routinely visit parents and pupils at home where appropriate. Parents have direct access to the Psychology Service to discuss problems and seek advice.
Complaints procedure
The service deals with complaints as quickly as possible using the authority's complaints procedure. We would encourage the initial discussion of issues with the psychologist concerned. If the matter cannot be resolved in this way, contact should be made with the principal educational psychologist.
We would much prefer to address and resolve any problems around service delivery than to allow frustration to build up in schools.