Walsall Council - Principal Educational Psychologist & Strategic Support Manager

Are you a Senior EP or EP seeking to expand your leadership skills? Are you ready for a change, or looking to take the next step in your career? Are you excited by the opportunity to lead and develop a fast-growing EP service? 

Walsall Educational Psychology Service is seeking to recruit a Principal Educational Psychologist to lead the service alongside our 2 existing SEPs.  Walsall EPS has a strong team identity and supportive ethos.  We have grown to a team of 12 over the last few years with further roles (including a third SEP) due to come on stream shortly as part of our growth plan.

Walsall EPS holds the following values at its core:

• Meaningful: We have a positive impact by being meaningful and purposeful in what we do.
• Collaborative: We work in collaboration with stakeholders to facilitate change and promote positive outcomes.
• Anti-oppressive: We work in an anti-oppressive way to promote equity.
• Creative: We are creative and innovative in our application of psychology, which we apply in a diverse range of ways.
• Child-centred: Everything we do is done with the child/young person’s best interests in mind. We work with children/young people to generate a holistic understanding including the child/young person’s views and strengths.
• Supportive: We are supportive and compassionate with each other and with the individuals and communities we work with. We work to foster supportive systems that enable individuals, teams and communities to flourish.

We are seeking to appoint a Principal EP who will lead transformational practice in response to the national SEND reforms and strengthen the capacity of the EPS to build creative, innovative, and psychologically driven solutions to support our communities, schools, families and young people. 

You will: 

• Lead, grow and nurture the educational psychology service with the support of 3 Senior EPs. 
• Develop a framework for practice as part of our Experts at Hand offer, focusing on systemic and organisational change, whole school strategic support for inclusion, and our offer at the Targeted and Specialist tiers, through the creative application of psychology. 
• Work in partnership with colleagues across Education, Health and Care to co-produce and implement the LA response to the SEND reforms with innovation and creativity. 
• Support and supervise the team and our pool of locum colleagues in collaboration with the senior leadership team.
• Provide strategic management and support in relation to directorate level priorities related to the wider LA vision, policy development, and inspection readiness.       

About us
Walsall EPS plays a key role in delivering the LA’s SEND and AP strategy and will be integral in the LA’s delivery of the SEND reforms. We have strong relationships with teams across Children’s Services including the Virtual School, Youth Justice, the Violence Reduction Partnership, and the Attendance Team, as well as with Health and Social Care. Walsall EPS delivers statutory work, critical incident support, and substantial LA projects, alongside traded services to schools, where demand for the service remains high.

The EPS is leading on a number of initiatives including, ELSA, SCERTS, and EBSA guidance and training.  We are also delivering LA commissioned projects focused on Embedding Inclusive Practice, Supporting Transitions, and ensuring Successful Re-integration following exclusion. Main grade EPs have substantial protected time to allow for such initiatives (currently 24 days per year) and a cap on statutory assessment work. 

We have recently launched our new model of psychological consultation, which we are excited to be implementing as part of our traded offer. We have invested in external CPD to support the development of our approach and are committed to the on-going development of this as a priority area of practice for the service.   

Successful candidates will join the existing senior leadership team to support our enthusiastic and creative team of specialist seniors, main grades and assistant psychologists and TEPs. 

What we can offer you
Walsall EPS is a values-driven, dynamic service with lots of exciting opportunities and advantages, including:

• Access to a range of professional development activities: Including a program of in-house and externally commissioned CPD. Service members have the equivalent of 12 days of CPD (FTE). 
• A centrally based service with a strong team identity and regular and protected opportunities for peer supervision and support.
• A central office base which includes an on-site café, excellent IT support and equipment, a variety of open-plan working spaces, bookable individual workspace, meeting and training rooms and parking. 
• Access to excellent administrative support.
• A generous leave entitlement up to 35 days and a flexi-time system.
• A commitment to supporting work-life balance via transparent allocation and workflow systems and a cap on statutory case work.   
   

All applicants must hold the relevant professional qualification and be registered with the HCPC.

For an informal and confidential discussion please contact Dr. Sam Samra, Principal Educational Psychologist (sam.samra@walsall.gov.uk) or Rachael Beards, Head of SEND and Inclusion (rachael.beards@walsall.gov.uk).
 
A full UK driving licence is required for this role.

This post is covered by the Government’s Code of Practice on the English Language Fluency Duty for public sector workers. The post holder will be required to communicate verbally with customers and provide advice and/or information in accurate spoken English.

Walsall Council takes seriously the responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all the children, young people and adults entrusted to our care and it is our expectation that all staff will share this commitment. Completion of an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check is a requirement for this role.

View Job Description and Employee Specification

Important note: When completing your online application form, you will be asked to enter supporting information. You must enter a detailed supporting information statement describing how your skills, abilities and experience meet the specific criteria included in the employee specification. If you do not include a supporting information statement, you will not be shortlisted. Please also ensure that you complete the work history and qualifications sections of your application form. Please do not add a CV as we do not accept them.  Please see our Information for Applicants leaflet for further information.

We kindly request that recruitment agencies do not contact us regarding this job vacancy. We are not accepting agency applications or referrals at this time.