Ordering school psychology services

Annual contracts for school psychology services are ordered during the Summer term. This is so that days can start being delivered from September in the new academic year. Annual contracts are prioritised by our educational psychologists, and they allow the school to know that they will have access to an educational psychologist over the academic year. We also accept ad hoc work requests during the academic year, but these are based on psychologist availability.

To place an order email [email protected] with your request. Psychology4Learning will then confirm a psychologist who has availability and the price. A formal quote can be provided at this stage. We then simply ask that you email confirmation of your request. Your psychologist will then be in contact at the start of the new academic year.

school psychology

Typical process when working with a school

1. Place an order

The school places an order with Psychology4learning for psychology services.

Following an initial enquiry from a school, Psychology4Learning will confirm psychologist availability and the price. Once this is agreed the order is accepted and the psychologist is assigned the work. The majority of our school psychology work is commissioned by schools, rather than parents. However, we also work with some parents directly, and when working with independent schools Psychology4Learning can invoice parents directly.

2. Phone planning meeting

The assigned educational psychologist will agree the work with the school

The psychologist will call our main contact at the school and arrange a phone planning meeting (30 minutes or less). The school Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) is usually our main contact. The meeting will involve the SENCO providing an overview of the concerns, background information, support provided to date. If working with an individual pupil at this state we will also need the pupil’s name and date of birth.

The psychologist will agree with the SENCO the nature of their involvement, a timetable for the visit, and jointly agree a visit date. At this point the psychologist will also confirm how much school psychology time will be needed to undertake the work. For an individual pupil this ranges from 1 day, 1.5 days to 2 days.

Following the phone planning meeting, we will send the school a consent form (pre-populated with pupil name and date of birth), which parents / guardians are required to sign. Completed consent forms need to be returned before the visit. Note: the psychologist cannot work with a pupil unless they have seen a signed consent form.

3. School visit

The psychologist visits the school to meet staff, pupil, and parents.

The psychologist will visit the school for 2 to 3 hours. The visit will often include: observation of pupil in the school setting, joint consultation with school staff and parents, any assessments / direct work with the pupil. Following the visit, the psychologist will undertake any background research and write a final report / consultation record. The final report / record is then sent to the school and parents.

If the work is more complex, more time may be needed in school to undertake assessment work, direct work with the pupil, research, and report writing. School psychology time will be negotiated with the school SENCO before the psychologist begins.

4. Final report

The psychologist writes a report, including recommendations to support the child’s learning

Working off site, the psychologist will write a report summarising the results of their visit, including scoring and analysing any assessments. The final report will include recommendations on how school and parents/carers can support the child’s learning.

Note that ADHD and ASD can only be diagnosed by a paediatrician. The EP report may suggest, given the results of their visit, that further investigation by a clinician e.g. paediatrician, is warranted. Parents may choose to share the EP report with other clinicians, as triangulation of information helps the professionals build a richer picture of the child’s concerns.

EP reports are not essential to make an EHCP application, however they can be submitted as part of the evidence. An EP assessment and report will be conducted by the Local Authority once an EHCP application has been approved.