Assistant Educational Psychologist - ELCI

This position has a starting salary of £34,525 based on working 36 hours per week across 42 weeks per year (term-time, plus an additional 15 days per year), pro-rata to £37,265 (Soulbury AEP scale, point
2).

Following the overwhelmingly positive evaluation of the impact of the Enhanced Language and Communication initiative (ELCi) within schools in Surrey, we are now expanding our team and looking for Assistant Educational Psychologists to join us!

We have a number of opportunities available, based in the Guildford area for the west position and Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell for the East position. You will be able to express your preference in your application.

• A generous local government salary related pension
• Up to 5 days of carer’s leave and 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Wellbeing and lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, and shopping
• A chance to make a real difference to the lives of our residents

This role offers a psychologically rich opportunity to work at the point where early development, learning environments, and adult understanding intersect. ELCi is an evidence-based approach which has been designed and implemented within Surrey. It aligns with the Department for Education’s SEND reforms outlined in “Every Child Achieving and Thriving”, particularly the “Experts at Hand” model. The initiative has been shown to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings to meet children’s needs earlier, more effectively, and inclusively.

Some children enter Reception with needs that are not yet fully understood, and this role is fundamentally about supporting others to notice, make sense of, and respond differently. You will be working in the early stages of children’s school lives, where patterns of communication, interaction, and emotional regulation are still emerging, and where adult interpretation plays a crucial role.

A central assumption of ELCi is that when adults feel more confident and psychologically informed, their environments become more attuned, and this benefits all children.

The Enhanced Language and Communication Initiative is built on the principle of sustainable change through shared understanding. Rather than positioning expertise as something delivered to schools, the focus is on working alongside staff to develop confidence in whole-class, relational approaches that can be sustained beyond the life of the project.

Your role will contribute to this by helping school staff build their own capacity so that the thinking, and the strategies remain when the ELCi team steps back.

You will join a small team, supported by an ELCi Coordinator and jointly led by an Educational Psychologist and a Speech and Language Therapist. Training and ongoing professional development will be provided to ensure that you can confidently support settings and make a real difference to children's lives. Ongoing supervision is integral to the role — not simply as a way of developing skills, but as a space to think psychologically about your work, your responses, and the systems you are part of.

You will spend time in Reception classrooms, working alongside teaching staff in a way that blends observation, modelling, discussion, and reflection. Your work will focus on supporting the adults in class to include children who experience differences in social communication, interaction, and/or emotional regulation through implementation of whole class approaches. Your impact will be seen in shifts in how adults understand and respond to need.

By supporting staff to think differently, you will help create classroom environments where more children feel understood, regulated, and able to engage in learning.

• Assess social communication and emotional regulation supports in Reception classes using a SCERTS framework
• Deliver weekly classroom input, supporting staff to develop emotionally…