Educational Psychologist

About The Job

Salary: Soulbury Scale A 5-10 plus SPA (£50,627 - £60,160 a year) plus £963 Essential Car User allowance (subject to criteria)

Hours per week: 37 and 22.2 hours per week available

Contract type: Permanent

Are you looking to work within a thriving team, where you make an impact every day and broaden and deepen your psychological skills?

At Luton Child and Educational Psychology Service, our mission is:

Working Inclusively Towards Hope WITH children and young people

If this resonates with you and you are looking for a new challenge or the first step in your career we would love to hear from you!

As a member of our team, you will benefit from:

• Essential car user allowance (£963 a year subject to criteria)
• Full and part-time permanent contracts available (minimum 0.6 FtE)
• Option to purchase an additional 20 days leave
• Individual and peer reflective supervision
• Supportive and caring leadership team

More about working for Luton Child and Educational Psychology Service:

• Our long-established traded service continues to thrive, offering a link EP through an early intervention consultation model responsive to local needs;
• Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme is in its fifth year, with our team delivering ongoing training to new ELSAs and supervision to trained ELSAs;
• Trainee and assistant educational psychologists are a core part of our team, developing skills for the future role, supporting the delivery of a wide range of EP services and inspiring us;
• Our team is represented within multi-disciplinary neurodiversity early concerns pilot, alongside wider initiatives to promote neuro-affirming approaches;
• Emotion Coaching ethos is embedded within our approach and training offer to education settings, led by our accredited practitioner;
• Working towards being anti-racist and trauma-informed is a core mission for our team;
• As part of the Department for Education (DfE) Change programme, we are piloting initiatives around use of alternative provision, where our service is represented within a multi-disciplinary team;
• Specialist senior EPs support several multi-disciplinary teams and projects, including Youth Partnership Service, Social care and Virtual School and Early Years, offering a breadth of knowledge, applied skills and expertise across services;
• We work closely with mental health service leads, NHS clinical officers and public health officials in supporting and developing local wellbeing strategy, support for children and young people experiencing emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA) and critical incident response;
• Our community psychology approach continues to expand as we think about engaging with and responding to the needs of marginalised groups.

Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.

About You

As an equal opportunities employer, we strongly welcome applicants from all backgrounds. We want our workforce to reflect the diversity of our local communities so that we can all work for a brighter future - together.

We warmly welcome applications from HCPC registered educational psychologists, and those in training, who are due to qualify in 2025 or 2026.

If you are interested in joining our fantastic service, please contact Dr Joanne Summers (Principal Educational Psychologist and Head of Inclusion Services) at joanne.summers@luton.gov.uk or Dr Jane Reichardt (Deputy Principal Educational Psychologist) at jane.reichardt@luton.gov.uk to arrange an informal discussion.

About Us

We are a supportive team of creative and dynamic psychologists, seeking colleagues to expand our much in-demand service.

Our service offers a balanced workload of traded and statutory work, opportunities to develop areas of interest through project work and enriching continued professional development.

Luton is a highly diverse unitary authority, within 30 minutes train journey of London to the south and bordered by Central Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Buckinghamshire. We have excellent established relationships with our schools and educational settings and are growing our community-based offer. The council offices are situated in the Town Hall in the vibrant and lively town centre, accessible by car and public transport.

Luton has a bold, ambitious and inspiring vision - a healthy, fair, and sustainable town where everyone can thrive, and no one has to live in poverty. Luton 2040

Our work within the EPS is oriented around achieving this vision, by working in co-production, using person-centred approaches and empowering others. We are committed to working through a trauma-informed framework, promoting relational approaches and being actively anti-racist.

Application Process

Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person’s criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However, in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.

Benefits

We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:

• From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
• Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
• Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
• Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
• Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
• Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
• Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
• Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
• Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
• Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel

How To Apply

We understand that job applications take time and effort, but a high-quality application shows that you are professional with a good attention to detail. The recruiting manager may receive a number of applications for each job advertised so you want yours to stand out!

Our ‘How to apply' page has more tips to help with your application: How to apply