to schools across South Essex
South Essex Extended Services offers holistic, bespoke support to pupils, families and school staff to meet the needs of individuals who may find accessing education a challenge in some way. The service is a co-ordinated approach to offer best practice to schools with a central manager
Services
Educational Psychology
Our educational psychologist uses psychological thinking to find a way forward when things are complicated. Schools can access consultation and supervision sessions with a psychologist, they can arrange for a psychologist to take part in professionals meetings and the team around the family meetings as well as accessing group work and training.
Schools can also access individual assessments and problem-solving consultation sessions for identified pupils when they feel their own school systems have been implemented and reviewed. At this point, our psychologist will visit the school. The psychologist will use a combination of observations, face to face meetings with staff/pupils/parents and individual assessments to build a picture of a situation and offer support and advice to staff and parents.
Schools can also access individual assessments and problem-solving consultation sessions for identified pupils when they feel their own school systems have been implemented and reviewed. At this point, our psychologist will visit the school. The psychologist will use a combination of observations, face to face meetings with staff/pupils/parents and individual assessments to build a picture of a situation and offer support and advice to staff and parents.
Counselling sessions for students
Support staff to triage referrals and ensure appropriate, timely, structured intervention. Work with students to identify and address a whole range of issues, including but not exclusively:
• Fears
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Depression
• Decision Making
• Loss & Bereavement
• Family Issues
• Abuse
• Relationships
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Depression
• Decision Making
• Loss & Bereavement
• Family Issues
• Abuse
• Relationships
Mentoring Students
• Model positive social skills and facilitates interpersonal connections beyond family.
• Help interpret and manage life challenges, including relationships with peers & parents
• Facilitate meaningful conversations that boost cognitive skills and provide perspective.
• Strengthen self-regulation, ability to manage emotions and impulses, to think before acting.
• Promote identity development, a key task of adolescence, through modelling core qualities; empathy, curiosity, resourcefulness, and resilience.
• Introduce new ways of thinking, resources, and opportunities.
• Foster self-belief
Holistic Family Support
• Visit pupils and families in their homes to offer support, guidance and strategies to address issues identified by schools and other agencies.
• Identified issues can range from domestic abuse, anxieties, mental health, additional needs, divorce and separation, attendance, child protection, anger and behaviour.
• Offer practical and emotional support to enable families to make changes and help themselves, while supporting adults in their role as parents/carers.
• Carry out timetabled visits to schools to prioritise targeted pupils and families, discuss nature/degree of support required.
• Work alongside staff and agencies to identify and monitor any child protection issues and notify the relevant safeguarding lead.
• Work closely with pastoral, SENCOs, behaviour for learning team, Designated Safeguarding Lead and external agencies to identify interventions, provide support and guidance to children and young people who are experiencing difficulties in learning due to social, emotional and behavioural problems as well as any other issues.
• Participate in the reviews and evaluation of work to ensure targeted support is given in response to the needs of the family.
• Develop constructive relationships with children, young people and their families to ensure parental/pupil engagement.
• Gather knowledge and understanding of local resources, community and statutory services, including mental health, Social Care, education, health and voluntary services, and communicate effectively with them in the best interest of the child and family.
• Help plan creative and innovative response to families and individual's needs, while keeping quality records and assist with the preparation of reports.
• To assist families to access, build and maintain effective relationships with school and other services.
• To participate and contribute in meetings with external agencies, to advocate when needed in meetings on behalf of families or school and, where appropriate involve families in such meetings.
• To maintain regular telephone contact with families and agencies while monitoring progress and if needed drive stalled intervention forward to a positive outcome.
• Build relationships with young people, by meeting them on a one to one basis over a sustained period during school.
• Help support pupils to increase their confidence and self-esteem by listening to them and devising appropriate strategies.
• Work closely with school attendance officer to identify pupils with a high absence record who are at risk of missing out on their education.
• Support parents and carers in completing official forms and applications.
Liaison with school staff
SEES team will meet regularly with DSL/administration lead to look at referrals and offer feedback from sessions. They will attend, where required, safeguarding meetings at school and meet with appropriate staff, also attend TAF/TAC meetings if invited.