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Educational Psychology Service
The Educational Psychology Service (EPS) consists of a group of
educational psychologists working for Medway Council and with
children and young people aged up to 19 years, their teachers,
parents, carers and other professionals. Most of their work is with
children who are in mainstream schools and also those who have
specialised needs or who attend special schools or mainstream
units, such as those with significant learning, behaviour,
physical, language or sensory needs.
The focus is primarily on helping school staff to support
children and young people as early as possible. The EPS also
advises the council about how to meet the needs of all children,
whether they have special educational needs or not.
The EPS has a legal duty to provide psychological advice to the
council in the event of a child or pupil being assessed for a
Statement of
their special educational needs. This is known as the Statutory
Assessment Procedure.
The EPS also links with other agencies when appropriate, such as
the health service and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Service.
Trainee Educational Psychologists
The EPS also offers placements for Trainee
Educational Psychologists (TEPs) in Years 2 and 3 of their Doctoral
training course. This is organised through the London and
South East Universities’ placement panel. TEPs are highly
valued members of our team, and we are able to offer good
supervision, opportunities for strategic work, and high quality
administration support within a compact and close team. TEPs will
need to have use of their own car when working in Medway.
Quotes from our 2012-13 Year 3 TEPs
“Medway Educational, Child and Community Psychology Service is a
friendly and forward looking team who are dedicated to supporting
trainees through their journey to becoming qualified. In comparison
to my fellow trainees on my course, the range of work that I have
engaged with whilst on placement has been broad and varied and this
is reflected in the range of professional competencies that I have
been able to develop. Having the opportunity to be the sole
EP for my own patch of schools has allowed me to develop my own
hypotheses and interventions around complex casework, something
which I have greatly valued in order to become a confident and
autonomous practitioner. The standard of supervision provided is
above that which I have experienced in other local authorities and
having the opportunity to engage in peer supervision alongside
individual supervision ensures that trainees are able to benefit
from working alongside such highly skilled colleagues.”
“Medway has been a fantastic place to train due to the huge
range of experience I have had. I've been able to get involved with
Local Authority projects as well as pathfinder work that will
influence how the profession works nationally. I've been given the
perfect amount of responsibility through having my own patch
of schools which I support independently but this patch isn't too
big to make it feel unmanageable. I've been given the flexibility
to try new assessments learnt about at university and have been
actively encouraged to think creatively and work each case
differently. Above all I have an amazing supervisor and the service
is full of lovely people who welcome trainees into the team as
equals.”
“As a trainee in Medway, you are given your own patch of
schools, which makes you feel like a real EP! Although it felt like
a lot of responsibility at first, it really helps you to build
relationships with staff and pupils throughout your training and
learn how to work autonomously and prioritise casework and your
time within your schools. You also have opportunities to become
involved with lots of really interesting systemic projects in your
own schools and also jointly with other team members, such as
sitting on decision-making panels, whole school literacy
interventions, participating in termly group consultations and
INSET. This is something I've really enjoyed and are good skills to
practise whilst a trainee - speaking to friends in other services,
I now realise these are quite unique experiences. The team are
really friendly and supportive and are always there to ask "what
shall I do?" questions to, and are happy to share resources and
advice. I've been really impressed with how innovative and creative
the EPs are in their approach to work in Medway. Many use
photography and video approaches in their casework and are
solution-focused and evidence-based in their thinking about
problems. I strongly recommend applying to Medway, it really is a
lovely service, offering a wide range of experiences.”
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