Inclusive education is the cornerstone of educational psychology service (EPS) work in Hillingdon – and the principal educational psychologist who leads the service, Ingrida Stankeviciene, has as clear a conviction of what the service isn’t about, as she does of what it is. “Inclusion is not just being allowed to come to school,” Stankeviciene says. “Inclusion is about making sure that every child has an identity within that setting. They feel they belong there. They sense they are being accepted and not judged. And they are not being reminded of what they cannot do, but also being praised for the things they’re making progress on.”
It is a philosophy that underpins the local authority’s provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), and its investment in the EPS to bring about positive change in the lives of children and young people.
With a higher proportion of children with Send currently in special schools than the national average, Hillingdon is working innovatively to boost mainstream schools’ capacity to support pupils with additional needs, explains Dominika Michalik, assistant director for Send and inclusion at the borough.
“The specialist inclusion service (EPS and Send) works together with other professional teams, such as school improvement, virtual school, admissions and others, to offer a very holistic approach to schools,” says Stankeviciene. “It’s not just about focusing on particular cases that the school may struggle with, but a team around the school providing expertise and advice.”
To ensure inclusive practice is applied in schools, early identification of needs is at the centre of all EP’s work. Within the EPS, specialist roles have been introduced: specialist EP in early years and specialist EP in SEMH (social emotional mental health), honing in on key areas of increased demand. The specialist EP in early years is focused on helping with strategic and operational oversight in supporting nurseries identify and address children’s needs.
The specialist EP for SEMH role focuses on providing specialist social, emotional and mental health advice and support to schools and settings. The role is created to contribute towards leading, managing and developing person-centered support for children/young people with SEMH needs. This also ensures it enhances the teaching practice across Hillingdon council, through the effective implementation of ordinarily available provision.
In the Hillingdon EPS, each EP brings specialised expertise in areas such as neuroscience, attachment difficulties, difficulties with cognitive functions, social communication. These diverse skills enable EPs to take a leading role in various projects, including contributing to the development of the Send strategy. By drawing on their specific knowledge, EPs help shape the vision and priorities for Send, ensuring a comprehensive and well-rounded approach to meeting the needs of all learners.
Mainstream schools require support at all levels to be able to provide support to a child, says Stankeviciene, and turning to the EPS, which works with 70% of schools in the borough, can bring real change. “With the right support, upskilling staff, and providing supervision to teaching staff, there have been really amazing examples of inclusive competence and good practice in supporting children,” she says.
The EPS has been training teaching assistants as emotional literacy support assistants (ELSAs), who have been providing emotional and social skills support to children since 2019. From September 2025, EPS will also start to train teaching assistants as mediating learning support assistants (MeLSAs). Staff in these roles help children become independent learners. Last year the specialist SEMH EP started a three-day training course that is run three times a year, developed for all (families, teaching staff, inclusion staff, and specialists), with a focus on emotional-based school non-attendance and behaviour (EBSNA). The key is to promote a better understanding of social and emotional needs and the implications of those in children and young people’s school attendance, number of exclusions and behavioural challenges.
Hillingdon is committed to expanding facilities for children with Send within mainstream schools. It has increased the number of specialist resourced provisions – for pupils who spend the majority of their time in mainstream classrooms but need some additional individualised support – and has recently introduced “designated units” at two schools, where children who are only able to attend some mainstream classes can be supported to integrate with their peers as much as possible.
At the newly rebuilt Harlington secondary school, the Compass unit is a 16-place designated unit which is expected to be a centre of excellence for pupils with a diagnosis of autism spectrum condition. There is also a primary-aged designated unit at Wood End Park academy, at the newly opened Anil Bhatt building, with 24 places. The local authority’s priority is to “ensure children are supported in the right school with the right provision to best meet their needs,” says Nav Minhas, the borough’s school place planning and policy manager.
And while being in a mainstream school environment, sharing experiences such as eating lunch, playtimes and assemblies, strengthens Send students’ social and language skills, it’s also beneficial to their peers. “A mixture of mainstream and Send pupils in a school teaches all pupils to be mindful of the needs and requirements of those around them, while also teaching acceptance,” says Minhas.
With the birth rate falling since 2016 in Hillingdon, there are surplus places in primary schools, and the council has also begun repurposing that space, where possible, to meet the increasing demand for Send provision.
The Hub at Charville academy opened in spring 2024, as a 16-place specialist resource provision for pupils with autistic spectrum disorders, with specially designed classrooms. This brand-new provision includes a purpose-built sensory room and a number of small group rooms to conduct focused learning, including speech and language interventions.
Ruislip Gardens primary school has created The Grove, which compromises both a specialist resource provision for primary-aged pupils and an assessment base for three to five-year-olds with severe and long-term learning needs – a nursery setting where the level of support they need to thrive can be expertly assessed, so by the time they start full-time education they have an educational health care plan (EHCP) tailored to their needs. “It’s an exciting time,” says Minhas. “Early intervention is obviously the best possible approach for children, because it could completely change their journey.”
For Stankeviciene, the benefit to schools of working with a local authority educational psychologist on inclusion is the long-term relationships that are built. “You know your school,” she says. “You know exactly what their strengths are and where they need to upskill themselves. And we keep empowering schools to do more and continue to develop their strengths.”
For a rewarding career in the educational psychology service, consider working with children’s services at Hillingdon council
