Educational psychologist opportunities

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This is an exciting time in North Yorkshire Council's Educational Psychology Service. We are in a time of considerable change, with the Educational Psychology team recently doubling in size. We have ambitious growth plans and are repositioning the service to be at the heart of the Inclusion service and integrated across the Children and Young People service. This will enable our colleagues in Educational Psychology to shape and influence approaches across children's service as highly valued professionals. Our Children and Young People's Service was recently graded Outstanding by Ofsted. We are looking for innovative and solution-orientated professionals to join us in shaping the future direction of our Educational Psychology Service and realising our ambitious plans.

As an educational psychologist, you will join our growing central Educational Psychology team, and work within and make valued contributions to developments within a wider multi-agency team. You will work directly with our inclusive additionally resourced settings which are an integral part of identified mainstream schools, to embed consistent and inclusive practices. These settings are currently referred to as Targeted Mainstream Provision, or TMP. Support to these settings will be mainly systemic, although casework will also be provided.

We are in the process of expanding and developing our offer in support of our commitment to inclusion and the rights of children to be positively included in their communities.

North Yorkshire recognises the value of educational psychology and is increasingly offering diverse and varied working opportunities. We are keen to develop these further. We are also looking to further develop a solution focussed practice framework across the whole of the Inclusion Service and all colleagues will support this development.

We are a small but quickly expanding educational psychology team with a strong growth plan in place to develop our service and support our special educational needs and disabilities hubs and targeted provisions.

Women making notes while a boy plays with toys.

This is an exciting opportunity for educational psychologists who want to join a team committed to ensuring the best opportunities for the children and young people of North Yorkshire. You will be joining a team that is united and enthusiastic about our and our children's future.

We embrace individual special interests and value the additional skills and knowledge these areas of interest bring to the team. You will have diverse work, professional development and the opportunity to shape innovative practice. We will invest in your training, including training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, from day one to enable you to work in an innovative and inclusive way. You will have clear line management and professional supervision throughout your journey.

Like other local authorities, North Yorkshire Council has seen an increase in the need for statutory assessments. As such, we have a dedicated support programme in place. This ensures our educational psychologists are able to carry out fulfilling and diverse work in specialist areas.

An image of a young man talking to a therapist with a clipboard next to a portrait of a member of the educational psychology team.

You will have the opportunity to have a very visible career, with work that is recognised regionally and nationally. You will also be able to build your professional network.

North Yorkshire is renowned for being a forward-thinking, dynamic and creative authority that listens to stakeholders including schools, families and young people to continually improve our offer.

Our service includes:

embedded support to our new targeted mainstream provisions, including delivering a therapeutic offer to children and young people when needed - all our Educational Psychologists are cognitive behavioural trained
working alongside the SEND multi-disciplinary hubs with our hub managers and specialist teams to provide holistic support for children and young people with SEND
project work within the SEND hubs - ensuring our services become truly cutting edge and evidence-based
allocation of time to support research and recommendations for the children's workforce development in supporting children with SEND
oversight and quality assurance of psychological advice as part of the statutory process

Join us

Help us realise our ambition to develop a strong educational psychology service with an outstanding reputation for its statutory and traded work, and which is an embedded and integral part of our SEND and inclusion offer. Our SEND services are based within four localities across North Yorkshire and include SEN caseworkers, educational psychologists, specialist teachers and practitioners together with speech and language therapists and occupational therapists. These personnel within the four locality hubs are responsible for working closely with schools and settings to identify children early and to make sure they receive the appropriate support and interventions to meet their special educational needs.

A portrait of a member of the educational psychologist team next to a picture of a girl talking to a teacher with her arms above her head.

Our current job opportunities

We don't have any educational psychologist job opportunities at the moment.

A member of the educational psychology team working on a laptop.

Hear from some of our team

"Our teams are highly dedicated and actively engaged in shaping and leading transformation and innovation, whilst ensuring families remain at the centre of our decisions."

“I would have to say that the council educational psychology team is a very supportive and encouraging team who have helped me to develop professionally.”

Our vision for education provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities builds on the SEND Strategic Plan for Educational Provision. This is an ambitious five-year plan, which describes how we intend to transform services and educational provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in North Yorkshire.

Hear from those we support

"Your report demonstrated that you really understood my child's needs and there was specificity in relation to outcomes, and that was really supportive."

"The educational psychologist input helped provide clarity in relation to my daughter's needs."

"Had we not had educational psychologist support, I do not think any other professional could have supported us to find a way forward. How the educational psychologist worked with school staff ensured more impact. School staff were also able to gather more evidence regarding the young person's needs."

"Working with the education psychology service has given us expert advice around those areas we know less about - enabling us to support our students to the best of our ability."

"Having an educational psychologist in the building to support our students has been invaluable in helping us to make sure that we are seeing all sides of the issue and therefore ensuring our students get the best support."

Members of the educational psychology team.

Working for us - what we can offer you

We are a strong performing authority, with supportive political leadership and talented teams providing the platform to have a fulfilling, challenging and successful career in a truly stunning place.

A recent peer challenge found that the council is a good place to work, with strong leadership and a loyal and committed workforce who have access to well-regarded training and development.

We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice, offering a range of training and development opportunities and career progression allowing you to manage your own development journey and empowering you to control your career. Your career can change with your life here in North Yorkshire.

We encourage flexible working and we provide you with the technology you need to work from a wide variety of locations.

We believe in the importance of inclusion, which is why we are always working towards being a more diverse, equitable and inclusive employer. Find out more about our equality, diversity and inclusion work on our working for us page. You can bring your whole self to work, and we will support you to be the best that you can be.

Watch this video to learn about our employee networks.

Our values, behaviours and ambitions underpin everything we do.

Our vision

We want to build on North Yorkshire’s natural capital, strong local economy and resilient communities, to improve the way local services are delivered and support a good quality of life for all. The council plan 2023 to 2027 sets out the council’s vision, ambitions and priorities for the next four years, as well as the approach we will take to achieve them.

What we can offer you in the children and young people's service

You will receive the very best support, working alongside talented and inspirational people.

We will provide you with training and learning in areas such as CBT and other therapeutic approaches and the opportunity to be involved in projects in each of the hub areas which will further inform practice and strategy across SEND. Investment in your continuous professional development continues throughout your career. A number of heads of service across North Yorkshire have used their experience to transition into senior regional and national roles.

The role has a flexible base. As a council, we are very much committed to encouraging flexible working for our employees, arranged around the demands of the role. You can work from bases across the county as well as working from home. Our head office is in Northallerton, therefore visibility here and throughout the county is required.

You will have the opportunity to join a learning organisation to develop your skills and career alongside having North Yorkshire Council on your CV.

Our relocation package

If you are considering relocating to North Yorkshire we provide a comprehensive relocation benefits package.

This features up to £8,000 to cover reasonable costs such as:

removal expenses
storage costs
legal and estate agent fees
travelling expenses

The council's comprehensive benefits package

North Yorkshire Council prides itself on being the biggest employer in North Yorkshire leading from the front and constantly seeking to innovate and finely tune the system with an unwavering desire to continually improve.

We welcome and celebrate diversity and inclusion and the strengths this brings to our communities and workforce, we aim to provide excellent and efficient local services enabling everyone to fulfil their potential, to do this we give everyone equal access to services and job opportunities.

We can offer you a comprehensive benefits package including:

a local government, career average employer contribution pension scheme
family friendly leave
salary sacrifice schemes
modern flexible working practices
learning and development packages
career advancement opportunities
employee discount benefits including shopping and gym discounts
green car and cycle schemes
travel loans

Find out more about working for the council and the benefits we offer on our total rewards page.

Living and working in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a thriving county that adapts to a changing world and remains a special place to live and work.

North Yorkshire's natural beauty is captured in its three areas of Outstanding Natural Parks, National Nature Reserves, stunning coastlines, scenic rural villages, vibrant cities and market towns. North Yorkshire really is a beautiful, thriving and special place to live and work, rich in heritage and culture.

North Yorkshire features significantly in the ten best places to live in the UK in Halifax Quality of Life Survey. The Quality of Life index aims to quantify where living standards are highest in the UK by ranking local performance across a range of indicators.

Richmondshire was placed second in the list, a position boosted by excellent personal wellbeing factors including life satisfaction and happiness.

Hambleton was placed fourth and Ryedale was placed eighth, a truly commendable achievement and another incredible accolade for North Yorkshire.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics bulletin positions North Yorkshire as the safest place in England with extremely low crime rates.

In addition, the county benefits from excellent road and rail links, with easy access via the east coast mainline, the A1(M) and A19. Leeds, York, Newcastle, Durham and Teesside are all easily commutable, and London and Edinburgh are just two hours away by train.

From its lively cities to pretty villages, rolling countryside and grand coastline, Yorkshire has so much to offer including great employment opportunities for your family members, along with a higher proportion of schools which are good or outstanding compared to national figures.

You can find out more about what North Yorkshire has to offer on the No place like North Yorkshire website.

Watch this video to see more of what North Yorkshire has to offer.

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