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Explain the roles of external professionals who may work

with a school eg. Educational Psychologist

Many professionals from organisations outside of school may work with staff and

pupils within school on a regular basis. Classroom assistants who work with children

with SEN and with the school's SENCO are likely to come into contact with a variety

of organisations, individuals, and agencies. These may include mental health

services and social services, as well those mentioned below.

Other professionals that work with schools.

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Health service-related professionals

Physiotherapists and occupational therapists (OTs) Physios and OTs support pupils, particularly those with additional needs. Although

they work out of the local health service, they are usually available to meet and

discuss specific pupils and their progress.

Speech and language therapists (SLTs)

SLTs work with individual pupils with specific language, speech, and communication

problems. They may assess and observe pupils, as well as supporting them one-on-

one to help them use and understand language more easily. There are usually a

number of SLTs who work locally and most will be connected to one school or another.

If the SLT is not based on site, there will be at least one available to visit the school

when needed.

Local authority-based professionals

Educational psychologists

Most schools have an educational psychologist provided through the LEA or its

Special Educational Needs office. Educational psychologists monitor individual

pupils who have been identified as requiring this type of assistance, and they have

significant input into planning provision around children with SEN, so tend to work

quite closely with the SENCO. They may also attend and manage meetings with

parents.

School Improvement Partner (SIP)

SIPs help the Head Teacher look at how to develop the school using specialist tools

like the school self-evaluation, and monitoring high-level pupil progress. This means

monitoring the average standards of pupil progress, rather than looking at the work of

specific students. They generally spend less than a working week within school, and

these days tend to be spread out through the year. They are usually ex-school

leadership, such as retired heads or teachers, and may have worked as a consultant

at the local authority. They look at both academic factors and external school

provision, and they may also meet with parents, in order to ensure they have a full

picture of the situation.

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Specialist teachers

Some teachers have an additional specialism in things like social and communication

needs, behaviour support, and where there are lots of pupils who speak and use

English as an additional language, rather than as their primary language. Although

there may be a permanently employed teacher at the school with these types of

specialisms, it is more likely that they will visit in order to provide advice and support

to children who have these needs, and to staff who work with them, including the

SENCO and classroom assistants.

Education Welfare Officer (EWO)

The EWO normally works alongside the Head on an ad hoc basis, to provide support

with absenteeism and to help parents support excluded pupils when they come back

to school. Monitoring attendance is crucial to their role, and they are likely to help the

school by providing a good system to do this.

Other resources

Teachers from other schools

It can be very useful for teachers from a variety of schools to meet together on a

regular basis to discuss practice and ideas. These are sometimes known as 'cluster

groups'. One way in which this is particularly useful practice is where a school is

relatively small, and there may be only one teacher for each key stage. By meeting

with other teachers from different schools who work with the same age and ability

group, it is a great way to improve practice and to learn about new skills or

qualifications that can assist with daily work.