What is the EPS?
The Educational Psychology Service (EPS) at Bracknell Forest Council is a small team of Educational Psychologists who have knowledge in child development, learning and psychological wellbeing. We work collaboratively with children, young people, their families and the professionals who support them, in a range of settings to apply psychology to bring about positive change, progress in learning and emotional wellbeing.
Who are we?
At Bracknell Forest EPS, we are a dynamic, creative and friendly team. The team includes:
▪ Ann Ricketts – Principal Educational Psychologist
▪ Catherine (Katie) Reynolds – Senior Educational Psychologist
▪ Denita Whitelock – Senior Educational Psychologist
▪ Michelle Hahn – Educational Psychologist
▪ Alice Winchcombe – Trainee Educational Psychologist
▪ Amelia White – Trainee Educational Psychologist
▪ Heidi Mitschke - Business Support Officer
Who to contact
Email educational.psychology@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
Telephone is 01344 354015
What services do we provide?
On behalf of the local authority, we fulfil a statutory duty, which includes completing Psychological Advice for children and young people as part of the Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process. When requested by the local authority, we can provide input to the monitoring of children with an EHC plan.
Support is available to all education settings in Bracknell Forest, free of charge, should they require support following a critical incident or sad event.
We offer a traded model of service delivery which means that settings can purchase a range of educational psychology services. Each Educational Psychologist has a patch of settings and acts as a ‘link’, to negotiate and agree upon how best to use the traded time. Our full range of activities may include, but are not limited to:
▪ Solution focused conversations
▪ Person centred planning meetings
▪ Specialist, universal and bespoke training
▪ Individual and group supervision and/or coaching
▪ Work informed by therapeutic approaches
▪ Psychological assessment, monitoring and review
▪ Transition support
We are commissioned to provide direct advice and support by a number of Bracknell Forest Services:
- Early help
- The Virtual School
- Children’s Social Care
- Early years
We aim to be available to all parents/carers in our community by providing universal access:
- We offer educational psychology based consultations for parents/carers, with schools/settings, to book slots to talk through their concerns
Educational Psychologists (EPs) have expertise in child development, learning and psychological wellbeing. We work collaboratively with children, young people, their families and the professionals who work with them in a range of settings to promote positive change, progress in learning and emotional wellbeing. We work with parents, teachers and other professionals to agree and evaluate appropriate forms of support. We can also work with children and young people on an individual basis by carrying out individual assessment or therapeutic work.
We are also involved in the Educational Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment process and are required to provide a report which gives psychological advice for any child or young person who has an EHC assessment. Decisions about these assessments are made by a panel of education and Special Educational Needs professionals.
Requests for Educational Psychology support are made by schools and settings who have purchased time from the Educational Psychology Service, usually via their Special Educational Needs/Inclusion Co-ordinators.