The Role

Are you looking to join a creative, friendly and supportive multi-disciplinary team?

Do you want to deliver a high-quality psychological service to children and young people in Wandsworth? 

If yes, then please consider applying for our Senior Educational Psychologist permanent post to help shape our innovative practice.

We are open to recruiting either a part time (minimum 3 days a week) or full-time permanent Senior Educational Psychologist.

In return to your hard work and commitment, we would like to reassure you that you will benefit from:

• Working in a team with no EHCNA backlog
• Regular 1:1 supervision as well as group systemic supervision for all members of the senior leadership team.
• Being part of a dynamic team with a great reputation and involvement in innovative practice.
• Being part of a wider Children’s Services department that values psychology and prioritises our voice in strategic work.
• Access to leadership training and support to develop your leadership reflective practice.

Who are we?

The Schools and Community Psychology Service (SCPS) is a team of Psychologists, Trainee Psychologists and Primary Mental Health Workers (PMHWs).

As part of Wandsworth Council, we are a key service contributing to work that aims to improve educational, social and mental health outcomes for children and young people living and being educated in Wandsworth. We have a strong traded presence with our local schools as well as strong links with other teams and university organisations.

The SCPS is committed to the following current priority areas:

• Becoming an anti-racist team, promoting diversity and inclusion and reducing barriers in society.
• Consultation as a model of service delivery
• Values driven approach to practice, both internally as a team and externally with our school communities
• Team wellbeing and team collaboration at all levels
• Fostering and encouraging team member’s individual areas of professional interest
• A good balance of statutory, commissioned and project work across all levels of experience.
• High quality psychology with an emphasis on ongoing professional development with protected CPD time
• High quality psychological supervision and developing reflexivity through our various opportunities for group reflective space.
• Promoting psychology at all strategic levels both in our work with others as well as in our work with each other.

The role of a Senior EP will include a small amount of schoolwork with both commissioned and statutory caseload, supervision of qualified EPs and TEPs (if needed), various strategic roles within the team, as well as the wider Children’s Services department.

We are interested in hearing from qualified, HCPC registered Educational Psychologists with:

• Experience of practising as an Educational Psychologist in a UK Local Authority context. 
• Creative thinking and ideas for further developing and supporting a dynamic and multi-talented team.
• Interest in developing our EBSA strategy and/or improving our post-16 practice, as well as openness in bringing new ideas to areas of work we have not yet developed. We are a learning team and appreciate new ideas to create positive impact for our diverse communities.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills  
• Experience in offering psychological supervision and commitment in developing professional skills and distributed leadership in others.
• Interest in applying psychology in team leadership within the context of a wider organisation

Contact details

If you are interested in the role, please contact Theodora Theodoratou (Principal Educational Psychologist) on theodora.theodoratou@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Benefits

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including working from home and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.

We also offer a generous holiday allowance of 40 paid days (pro rata) including bank holidays and a wide range of learning and development opportunities. In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of staff benefits such as membership of the Local Government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts with many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments.

Indicative recruitment timeline

• Close date: 11:59pm on Monday 1^st of May 2023
• Shortlisting date: Week beginning of the 1^st of May 2023
• Interview date: Tuesday 9^th of May 2023

Useful Information: The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Please note that the advertised dates for interviews may change due to the current Covid-19 situation. If they do, we will let you know as soon as possible. Your health and wellbeing is our top priority. Should you become unwell due to Covid-19 during the recruitment process we would very much appreciate receiving an update from you as soon as possible.

At Wandsworth, we particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. We understand the value of what a diverse workforce brings to our local authority and therefore, strongly encouraging candidates from these backgrounds to apply to this position.

Equality statement

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Important Information

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils