Educational Psychologists are professionals who specialise in applied child and educational psychology. They apply psychology and work with others to promote positive outcomes for children, young people, and their families. The City of Wolverhampton Council Educational Psychology Service is a values-led service, and we are child-centred, inclusive, collaborative, empowering, solution-focused, and promote equality and anti-oppressive practice.
Educational Psychologists work with children and young people from 0 to 25 years of age. We work in partnership with the child or young person, parents/carers(s), school/setting, and other professionals to better understand strengths and areas of need in order to promote positive participation for all so that children and young people get the best possible start in life, are included, and fulfil their potential.
The role of an Educational Psychologist could involve visits to school or other settings and/or to home. Educational Psychologists in Wolverhampton work within the wider Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Inclusion Service in the Families Directorate. In our team we have qualified Educational Psychologists, Trainee Educational Psychologists and Assistant Psychologists.
In order to access involvement of an Educational Psychologist we need to collect some basic informaiton about the child/young person, their family, and their strengths and needs. It is necessary to collect and hold personal information about you and your child/ren. This information could include:
- Full name of child/young person
- DOB/age
- Names of parents/carers with parental responsibility
- Home Address
- Telephone number or email address
- School
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)
- Any mental or physical health needs
- Other agencies involved with the child/young person
- Achievement/attainment data
The involvement of an Educational Psychologist with children and young people varies because each person is unique and has different strengths and needs.
In some instances, an Educational Psychologist may only be involved for a short time to identify ways forward. However, some challenges or difficulties may require more in-depth work which can take longer. We will collect information about you (where applicable) by:
- Spending time talking to the child/young person to explore their world and ensure that their views are represented.
- Observing the child/young person to find out more about how they learn and their environments.
- Completing work with the child/young person to identify strengths and needs.
- Use a variety of therapeutic approaches to help the child/young person to make positive changes.
- Help parent/carer(s) and the school as part of the graduated approach contributing to asses, plan, do and review (APDR) cycles.
- Consult with parent/carer(s), teachers and other professionals so that the right support is given by the right people at the right time.
This is in order to support children and young people:
- To make progress.
- To learning new skills.
- To express themselves or understand what has been said to them.
- To communicate and interact with others.
- With physical and sensory needs which are affecting their engagement in school.
- With social and emotional development.
- With being independent.
We promote preparation for adulthood (PfA) from the earliest years by supporting children and young people to develop lifelong learning and employment, live an independent life, build relationships and community inclusion, and experience good health and wellbeing.
The lawful basis for processing personal information may differ depending on whether the involvement is part of a statutory assessment process or not.
Some of this information processing is considered to be part of City of Wolverhampton Council’s public task under the Children and Families Act 2014 and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice 2015. The lawful basis for processing the data is in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority (Article 6.1e, Article 9 2.g UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 Scheule 1, Part 2, 6).
Some of the information processing is non-statutory and based on the consent of the child/young person and the adult who has parental responsibility for the child/young person under 16 years old. The lawful basis for processing the data is consent (Article 6.1a, and Article 9.2a UK GDPR).
The work of an Educational Psychologist involves gathering and sharing information. Personal information could be shared with:
- Teams working in the City of Wolverhampton Council including, but not limited to, Autistic Spectrum Diagnostic Pathway, Early Years Pathway, Wolverhampton Youth Justic Service, Virtual School, Power 2;
- Your child/young person’s school or educational setting;
- Partner organisations such as Paediatricians, General Practitioners (GP), Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), Social Care, Speech and Language Therapy Service (SaLT), Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy etc;
- Supervisors (internal or external);
- Law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.
We will not disclose your data to any other third party, unless allowed or required to do so by law, or where we have your consent. Circumstances where we would share without consent are; where we are required to do so by law, to safeguard public safety, and in risk of harm or emergency situations. Any information which is shared will only be shared on a need to know basis, with appropriate individuals and only the minimum amount of information for the purpose will be shared.
We follow our Data Retention policy. We hold personal data securely and retain it from the child/young person’s date of birth until they reach 25 years old, children in care records are kept for 75 years from date of birth. All information will be held securely and destroyed under confidential conditions.
It is important that we hold accurate and up to date information about you in order to assess your needs and deliver the appropriate services. If any of your details have changed, or change in the future, please ensure that you inform us as soon as possible so that we can update your records.
The Data Controller for the information outlined in this privacy notice is City of Wolverhampton Council. Your privacy is important to us, and we are committed to handling your personal data securely in accordance with data protection legislation. Namely UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018.
The City of Wolverhampton Council Data Protection Registration number is: Z5569755
Data Protection Officer for the Council is: The Head of Information Governance and Customer Assurance – Anna Zollino-Biscotti. DPO@Wolverhampton.gov.uk
For further details about the processing of your personal data please see the Council’s Families Privacy Notice available on the webpage here: Privacy and Cookies Notice.
You have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to request your information and to request that the information be amended or erased if incorrect. You can find more information on your data rights on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website here: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/
To make a data rights request please contact the Information Governance Team, City of Wolverhampton Council, Civic Centre, St Peter Square, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SH or via email, data.protection@wolverhampton.gov.uk
You also have a right to make a complaint about our handling of your personal data to the Information Commissioner’s Office, details can be found on their website: https://ico.org.uk/
If you want more information about the Educational Psychology Service, please visit our website Educational Psychology Wolverhampton
Our postal address is: Educational Psychology Service, City of Wolverhampton Council, Civic Centre, St. Peter’s Square, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 1SH.
Email us: inclusionsupportadmin@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Call us: 01902 550609
In case you haven't found the answer for your question please feel free to contact us, our customer support will be happy to help you.