Synergy

EPIC Psychology & Wellbeing is a school led partnership established to meet the needs of local children, families, and schools. Our partnership of schools work closely together to develop a high quality service that best supports the need of our schools. Every school that becomes a partner with EPIC uses two of their purchased sessions to opt into choosing 3 out of 4 focus group discussions/interest groups led by an EP and an Assistant Psychologist. Each focus group will look at a different theme that is of interest to our schools. At the end of the year, there will be a final session, which will be a showcase of all Synergy focus groups where school-based concerns and strategies will be presented and discussed.

Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) (this is for class teachers, SENDCos, staff with attendance responsibilities, ECTs, and DMHL).

This EPIC Synergy session will focus on schools’ experiences of EBSA and how this has felt for you as a school working with the children and families. It will open up discussion around predisposing factors and any common trigger points you have noticed and how these have helped with early identification and facilitated intervention. It will be important to share what we feel the factors are that maintain a child’s EBSA and what we have done about these. Schools will have opportunities to consider how to use the protective factors around a child, a child-centred approach and family engagement to facilitate progress.

Assessing for Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs across the school (this is for SENDCos, pastoral and inclusion leads, and DMHL).

This EPIC Synergy session will allow schools to discuss their experiences of assessing for SEMH needs across the school – identifying what works well and the barriers, focusing on best practise. It will also facilitate discussion around the nature of the SEMH needs you want to assess and the reasons for this, emphasising what the data will be used for. EPIC will introduce some tools that schools can consider, which will be shared with attendees. Discussions will be framed from a risk and resilience model.

Girls on the Spectrum: Identifying and Supporting their Unique Needs (this is for SENDCos, class teachers, TAs, and inclusion leads).

This EPIC Synergy session will facilitate discussion around how to identify girls who may be on the autism spectrum and how discrepancies between narratives from home and school may be interpreted and understood. A chance to share thoughts and experiences around camouflaging will be had as a way of understanding girls with actual or potential autism. It will be important for schools to share the range of experiences that they have had when teaching and supporting girls on the spectrum and what the main strengths and difficulties appear to be. Finally, there will be plenty of discussion around how to support these girls’ unique needs across a range of situations.

EP Recommendations: What do they mean and how to operationalise them (this is for class teachers and SENDCos new to their role).

During this EPIC Synergy session, we will discuss the recommendations provided in educational psychology reports. We will explore the meaning behind these recommendations and how they can be implemented to support students in schools. We will also discuss the roles of class teachers and SENDCOs in ensuring the successful implementation of these recommendations and how this could look in a school and class setting. The recommendations will be broken down into the 4 areas of SEMH, Cognition & Learning, Social Communication & Interaction and Sensory, Physical, & Medical needs.

Dates:

31^st October, 2023 – Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA), 1:30pm-3:30pm, TSB Room, NSPCC
8^th December, 2023 – Assessing for Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs Across the School, 1:30pm-3:30pm, Fossebrook Primary School
10^th January, 2024 – Girls on the Spectrum: Identifying and Supporting their Unique Needs, 1:30pm-3:30pm, Braunstone Community Primary School
13^th February, 2024 – Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA), 1:30pm-3:30pm, Braunstone Community Primary School
17^th April, 2024 – Assessing for Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs Across the School, 1:30pm-3:30pm, Braunstone Community Primary School
8^th May, 2024 – EP Recommendations: What do they mean and how to operationalise them, 1:30pm-3:30pm (TBC)
26^th June, 2024 – Final Showcase, 1:30pm-4:00pm, Kibworth Grammar School Hall