Kinship Zone - Assistant Educational Psychologist
Job description
We are seeking an Assistant Community Educational Psychologist to work as part of our Community Educational Psychology Service on a full time, fixed term (3.5) years basis.
About the Kinship Zone
North East Lincolnshire is proud to be one of a small number of local authorities nationally, to be selected to pilot a Kinship Zone through to September. This pilot forms part of the wider Kinship Care Strategy and aims to strengthen support for families, including kinship and improve stability for children by testing new approaches to financial and practical support.
The Kinship Zone is a pilot to test out a new way of working that provides earlier, more consistent and more coordinated support for families and kinship carers. It focuses on ensuring that families have access to the right help at the right time, including:
1. Clear advice and guidance about rights, allowances and available support.
2. Better coordination between Early Help, Social Care, and partner agencies.
3. Access to funding to strengthen Family Network Support Packages where this is needed to maintain a safe and stable home.
4. A new financial allowance pilot for eligible kinship carers.
If you have high aspirations, believe wholeheartedly that every child can achieve, and committed to relational, strengths based and inclusive practice within a framework of Love and Belonging - we would love to hear from you.
You could be the next person to join our team, playing a key role in delivering the education strand of the Kinship Zone Pilot and helping to make a meaningful difference to the lives of children and families.
About the Role
We are seeking an Assistant Community Educational Psychologist to work as part of our Community Educational Psychology Service, with a primary focus on supporting the Kinship Zone Pilot. The successful applicant will be working within the Kinship Zone pilot specification, as set out by the Department of Education and will provide targeted, relational based support to families open to children’s social care including kinship carers who hold a Special Guardianship Order or, Child Arrangement Order (CAO) ensuring children can remain safely within their family network wherever possible.
As an Assistant Community Educational Psychologist (Kinship) you will:
5. Support the development of psychologically informed practice across the Kinship Zone
6. Work alongside kinship carers, schools and partner services to promote emotional wellbeing, attachment informed and relational approaches
7. Contribute to consultation and direct work that supports children to thrive within their family networks
8. Assist with group work, training, resource development and service improvement activity
9. Help gather learning from the Kinship Zone pilot to inform future practice locally and nationally
All work will be undertaken with regular supervision and support from a qualified Educational Psychologist.
About the Community Educational Psychology Team
Our Community Educational Psychology Team works to promote inclusion, belonging and emotional wellbeing for children and young people in the North East Lincolnshire Community. We are committed to:
10. Strengths based, relational and trauma-informed practice
11. Working alongside families and professionals, not doing things them
12. Building capacity and confidence within systems so change is sustainable
What We’re Looking For
We’re looking for someone who is:
13. Passionate about supporting children and families in community and care‑related contexts
14. Curious about how psychology can strengthen systems, relationships and everyday practice, and about how the role of the Educational Psychologist in particular can support Local Authority priorities alongside partners
15. Values driven, reflective and committed to inclusive, anti‑deficit approaches
Essential:
(Please see the role profile for further details)
16. A psychology degree (undergraduate or conversion) eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the British Psychological Society
17. Experience of working with children, young people and/or families
18. Strong communication and relationship building skills
19. A willingness to learn and develop within a supervised applied psychology role
Desirable:
(Please see the role profile for further details)
20. Experience related to kinship care, fostering, children in care or family support
21. Knowledge of attachment informed and trauma-informed practice
22. An aspiration to pursue doctoral training in Educational Psychology
What We Offer
23. A supportive, values led Community Educational Psychology Service
24. Regular supervision and reflective spaces with experienced Educational Psychologists and peers
25. Opportunities to be involved in innovative, system level work through the Kinship Zone
26. A strong commitment to staff wellbeing, development and work–life balance
27. The chance to contribute to nationally significant work improving outcomes for kinship families
Additional Information
This role is intended as a developmental Assistant Educational Psychologist post. The postholder will work within the professional governance arrangements of the Educational Psychology Service.
For More Information please contact:
Dr Louise Jarvis, Principal Community Educational Psychologist
Claire Brodie, Kinship Zone Lead
We want you to have the best interview experience with us, so we will provide candidates selected for interview their questions 24 hours in advance of meeting us.
We reserve the right to close our adverts early if we have received a significant volume of suitable applications.
As part of your RewardNEL package, you will have a generous leave entitlement (including bank holidays) and enrolment into a local government pension.
You will also have access to our exclusiveRewardNEL platform.