In this Issue:

Forthcoming Events

The DECP conference will be held on 7-9 January 2015 in Durham - the topic this year is 'Applying Creative Psychology to Education, Children and Young People'. This event is preceded with a Trainee Educational Psychologist day on Tuesday 6th January 2015. Trainees on all 3 years of the DECPsy programme can attend and we will pay the fee. This is a great opportunity to liaise and network with trainees from other courses and EPs from across the country. Click here for more information.

The next DEdPsy mini conference, including the celebratory lunch together as usual, will be held on Tuesday 2nd December 2014. A programme will be circulated shortly to all course members.

The next Leading Edge Day will be held on Thursday 16 April 2015. The theme for the day is Infant Mental Health (IMH), with a particular focus on Attachment Theory. IMH includes consideration of within-child factors, caregiver-infant relationships and the environment within which these relationships develop. Is there a role for EPs, particularly given that EP services espouse their role to cover the 0-19 age range? Given the recognition of mental health needs within the former BESD category of SEN in the Code of practice (2014) and the identification of perinatal and infant mental health as areas in which commissioners now need to focus, this day is timely. Speakers so far confirmed include: Professors Pasco Fearon, Peter Fonagy and Jane Barlow. We will begin with a focus on Attachment Theory within the context of IMH, before moving on to consider evidence about interventions that work and finally, examples of work by practising EPs in this exciting area. A full programme will be available soon on our Leading Edge Day webpage but make sure you have the date in your diary and apply for a place early (and then spread the word!)

An EPS Open Evening is being held by Hackney Learning Trust on 11th November 2014. Click here to find out more

An EP Interest Day is being held by Kent Educational Psychology Service on 5th June 2015. Click here to find out more

Your News and Views are always welcome - please send us your comments

Autumn 2014

New Faces in the group

In September 2014 we welcomed two new members of the DECPsy tutor team - Academic & Professional Tutor Dr Olivia Kenneally and Placement Tutor Dr Cathryn Ashe - having bade a fond farewell to outgoing team member Dr Sarah Challis, who has returned to Merton full-time. We also greeted, one month later, our ninth cohort of DECPsy trainees: Craig Allen, Alison Benson, Sophie Driver, Elise Kitson, Anisa-Ree Moses, Charlotte Moss, Sarah Musgrave, Juliet O'Callaghan, Dannika Osei, Larissa Petersson, Tamara Powell, Fiona Ryng, Carla Steytler, Valeria Troya-McCann, Claire Wraight and Catherine Wright. The cohort reps for the DECPy 14-17 cohort are Juliet O'Callaghan and Craig Allen. We wish all of these now not-so-new faces a warm and slightly belated welcome!

And back in January 2014 we were joined by our sixteenth cohort of CPD Doctorate course members - Yvonne Benson, Tim Cooke, Laura Dunstan, Rachel Eastwood, Cait Fair, Frances Graves, Victoria Jervis, Anna Joy, Mary Stanley-Duke, Aideen Taylor de Faoite, Theresa Thornton and Paula Williams - now well into their first year of studies and old hands at life at UCL!

Awards and Graduations

July 2014 saw another round of festivities on the DECPsy programme with our class of 2011-14 completing the course and launching their careers as fully-qualified EPs. The group are pictured left in that iconic 'on the steps' last day pose and continued the celebrations later that day with a now traditional DECPsy leavers cake, some very well-deserved champagne and a fun filled end-of-programme party. Congratulations to Dr.s Ang, Ball, Bennett, Cotzia, Freedman, Hayes, Hepworth, Johnston, Keay, Law, Lopez, Neal, Noble, Saffin, Sivasundaram and Tamplin. Click here for the party photos of the self-professed 'geeks' (who promise to see us for some karaoke at the next trainee Christmas party)!

On 4th July 2014 we were delighted to welcome back many of the previous 12 months' DECPsy and DEdPsy graduates for the Educational Psychology graduation ceremony. Some of our DECPsy 10-13 grads (Drs Maeve D'Arcy, Helen Woodhouse, Ama Collison (nee Hirsch), Stephanie Satariano, Claire Casey, Isabelle Harding, Michelle Stott, Denita Whitelock and Chantal Corbett) are pictured left with Co-Director Dr Sandra Dunsmuir.

And (right): some of our recent DEdPsy programme grads, Drs Claire Balisteri, Jane Williams and Leanne Toon celebrate with Co-Director Prof Tony Cline. Many congratulations also go to other recent CPD Doctoral graduates, Dr Linda Delmar, Dr Jessamine Chiappella and Dr Melanie Adkins who have also completed the programme this year. We look forward to seeing some of them at next year's graduation ceremony.

Click here to see more photographs from the graduation day submitted by DEdPsy and DECPsy attendees, including Dr Emma Kennedy, Dr Klair Norman, Dr Jo Riordan (nee Roberts) and Dr Liz Roberts. Congratulations everyone!

And continuing on the theme of awards, we were delighted to hear that DEdPsy 2012 cohort course member Rebecca Ashton recently won a national award from the British Psychological Society. The BPS Division of Neuropsychology pre-qualification award promotes and encourages the contribution of pre-QiCN clinical neuropsychology work and research to developments in clinical neuropsychology practice. Rebecca, pictured left at the award ceremony with Dr Jane Hood, who proposed her for the award, is engaged in neuropsychology practice in a number of ways and hopes that other EPs will consider turning an interest in neuropsychology into an accredited specialism, which can bring an extra dimension to EP work. Click here to find out more.

Norah's Retirement News

Norah has announced that will be retiring at the end of August 2015 – after 20 years as Head of the UCL Educational Psychology Group, and a further 8 as an Academic & Professional Tutor. A keen golfer, with a 7 handicap (see photo), Norah says that there are too many golf courses and travel destinations on her list to fit in alongside work! However she will take up an honorary position as Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology, and continue to be involved in a little teaching, thesis examining and publishing – so won't be disappearing off the scene entirely. It has already been decided that Sandra will take over as Head of the Group and sole Director of the DECPsy and Norah's post will be replaced by 2 part-time Deputy Programme Director posts that will be advertised in December.

New CPD Course in Developing Effective Leadership of Educational Psychology Services

We are launching a new seven session CPD programme, commencing in early 2015, which is directed at Principal and Senior EPs who wish to review and develop their leadership skills and understanding in the fast changing environments in which services find themselves. The programme will provide structured input on current theories of leadership, group work which explores the ideas presented by these and opportunities to tackle here and now dilemmas faced by participants through reflecting team consultation. There will be an overarching perspective of systems thinking, with input from other experienced PEPs. The programme is an approved UCL Educational Psychology Group CPD course and a certificate of attendance will be issued for evidencing CPD requirements.

The course will be run by our very own Dr Roger Booker who in addition to his role as Academic & Professional Tutor at UCL is an accredited executive coach who has worked with clients in both the private and public sectors. Roger recently published a review of current theories of leadership and their implications for EPSs - click here for more information.

Interested parties should access the Leadership course webpage, where you can also access more information including a course flyer and booking details.

Personal News

As ever, this year has seen some happy personal news in the Group, including many new Ed Psych babies!

Firstly, somewhat belated congratulations go to DECPsy 06-09 cohort graduate Dr Rebecca Cole who became the proud mum of baby Emma Rose on 29th June 2013 - a sister for Joseph. Mum and daughter are pictured right - click here for two larger photos.

Hot on Rebecca's heels was DEdPsy course member Helen Connaughton, whose summer arrival came in the form of a little boy, Tom, on 1st July. Helen cannot believe her little boy is now 15 months old - how time flies! Click here for a larger photo

And next was the turn of recent DEdPsy graduate Dr Leanne Toon - who had a little boy, Charlie Cort on 30th September 2013. Proud mum Leanne and dad Matt enjoyed celebrating Charlie's birthday recently, as well as taking him up to the Royal Festival Hall to celebrate his mum's graduation - where he seemed to enjoy his day whilst posing in a most scholarly manner! Leanne and Charlie are pictured left - click here for more photos.

Back to the DECPsy for our next piece of baby news, courtesy of 08-11 graduate Dr Susie Rebbeck, nee Flett - who had a baby girl, Heidi Ann, on 4th November 2013. Susie also married Jay Rebbeck in June 2013. Perhaps training on the DECPsy prepared Susie for squeezing an engagement, wedding and pregnancy into one year - and then topping that off with a move to Australia for 2014! Click here for a larger photo of baby Heidi Ann.

As usual, the summer months brought some romance to the DECPsy programme. 10-13 graduate Dr Ama Collison, nee Hirsch married fiance Gilbert on 7th June 2014, tying the knot at a church in Wimbledon and holding the reception at Dulwich College. Our congratulations go to the Collisons, pictured right - click here for a larger photo of the happy couple.

Congratulations also go to 13-16 cohort trainee Rheanne Jalali who got engaged to Zac this summer during a holiday to Spain

July and August 2014 saw a plethora of new arrivals on both programmes, resulting in some proud parents and also grandparents within the Group. Helen Hosier, one of our Group Administrators, was delighted when her second grandchild, Annis Beatrice, arrived on Wednesday 9th July shortly after 1.30pm, weighing 7lbs 7oz.  Helen was in the office that afternoon and was on tenterhooks waiting for baby updates after receiving a text at 1.00pm from Annis’s father alerting family members with a photo of himself, all scrubbed up, saying “Here we go”.  Annis has a big brother George, who has just turned 5. Click here for some more photos of Annis with her big brother.

Next on the EP grandparent list was former DEdPsy Programme Co-Director Dr Sean Cameron who became a grandparent again one day after Helen - to baby Sean Robert Cameron. Little Sean made his swift appearance into this world on 10th July, weighing in at 8lbs 10oz. Sean says "You can scarcely imagine my delight and pride at Rob and Niamh's choice of name for the little chap. So we now have little Sean (Sean og) and big Sean (Sean mor). Apparently og has more hair than mor!" Click here for a larger photo of little Sean - who looks to be every bit as sociable as his granddad as he high fives the camera!

Continuing with the July arrivals, DECPsy 06-09 graduate Dr Gemma Costello (nee Castlemann) and hubby Justin welcomed another little boy, Maxwell William Costello, into the world on the 11th of the month. Gemma says "Always up for a challenge, we have a 19-month age gap and are loving every minute of the chaos!"
Baby Max is pictured right with big brother Ryan - and click here for some more photos.

And moving into August, DEdPsy graduate Dr Marie Hayes became proud mum to baby Charlotte Ann on the 7th of the month. Charlotte Ann was born two weeks early, weighing in at 6lb 7oz. Since then Marie is happy to report that she is thriving and putting on weight. Click here for more photos.

And just ahead of the start of term, DECPsy 12-15 trainee Brigid O'Leary had a happy and healthy little girl, Orla, on 30th August 2014 - who is pictured right with the whole family (dad Tim and big sister Isolde). Brigid says she promises to introduce baby Orla to the rest of the cohort at some point soon! In the meantime click here for more pics.

In sporting news, we were excited to hear that recent DECPsy graduate Dr Orla Hayes was nominated for the World University Rowing Championships in early September. Orla's team came finished fourth so were really happy to have done so well despite being one unlucky place outside of a medal. We were impressed both with the result and the timing (hot on the heels of vivas and thesis corrections that summer!) Click here for more details.

And continuing on a fitness theme, two of our DECPsy 13-16 trainees climbed Ben Nevis this summer - an additional challenge to EP trainee workload! First up was Nikki Collingwood who completed the climb with her family and a group of friends in about 7.5 hours despite being attacked by hoards of midges on the way up and having to come down in the pouring rain. A pint of beer and cup of tea were very welcome at the pub at the bottom of the mountain.
And course mate Lacretia Loke was first inspired by Nikki's efforts before climbing Ben Nevis on her own! Lacretia was wondering how best to say a temporary "see you later" to the UK just the weekend before returning to Singapore for her second year on the programme and thought...why not? Let's climb the UK's highest mountain!
Click here for some larger photos from both trainees' climbs

Publications, Conferences and Research

Congratulations to our DECPsy and DEdPsy graduates on the following publications:

Dr Shane Gallagher (DECPsy 07-10) - Gallagher, S. & Dunsmuir, S. (2014). Threats Among the “Always-On” Generation: Cyberbully Identification in a Secondary School in the United Kingdom. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology (2)1.

Dr Sarah Hatfield (DEdPsy 2011 graduate) - Hatfield, S. (2014). Safeguarding the Safeguarders: Supporting Workers with Children who Sexually Abuse Peers. Educational and Child Psychology, 31(3), 33-41.

Dr Laura Warren (DEdPsy 2010 graduate) - Warren, L., Jones, A., & Frederickson, N. (2014). Callous-unemotional interpersonal style in DSM-V: what does this mean for the UK SEBD population? Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, first published on 6 October 2014 as DOI: 10.1080/13632752.2014.964084.

And click here to find out more about the new book from Prof Tony Cline, who has worked with his ex-PhD student from Luton University, Dr Andreas Braun, to produce a guide for parents based on Andreas's doctoral research. Most books for parents in this field concentrate on bilingual families, but with globalisation there are many more trilingual families than there used to be. Tony and Andreas hope that they will appreciate a book just for them.

Braun, A. & Cline, T. (2014). Language Strategies for Trilingual Families 120 pp. Multilingual Matters.

In conference news, on the back of a paper on the leadership of EPSs published last year, DEdPsy Tutor Dr Roger Booker was invited to present the keynote speech at the National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists' Conference. In preparation for this Roger invited all trainees in years 2 and 3 at UCL and the University of East London to complete a short questionnaire on their perception of leadership in their current services. This was a great opportunity to obtain an independent evaluation of service leadership from the “millennial generation” of new EPs using ideas from current theories of leadership reviewed in his paper.

There was an excellent response from trainees: a 75% return from both courses, 32 respondents representing between 25 and 28 services in London and the South East. Respondents were asked to identify level of agreement or disagreement with 9 positive statements about their leaders. 11 out of 32 agreed with all statements and a further 9 agreed or were uncertain, indicating a 63% “approval” as defined by an absence of any disagreement with a statement. There were mixed views from a further 5 and a predominance of disagreement from 7. This worryingly suggests that for 22% of trainees leadership is either “not getting through” to its trainees, there is a mismatch between views of leadership or, in a more general sense, leadership is failing. When asked to identify the most important improvement areas for their service leadership the following themes emerged:

Discussion at the NAPEP conference indicated a national concern at the paucity of development opportunities for EPs to develop the leadership skills required for a psychological service in the new legislative and financial environment. One response to this is being planned at UCL for next spring.

The full feedback report to participants can be found here.

Recent DEdPsy graduates Dr Jessamine Chiappella and Dr Claire Balisteri gave presentations at the International Research Conference on Nurture in Education, held in London on 9th October 2014. In addition to her presentation on the topic of 'An exploration of outcomes and mechanisms of change in part-time secondary school nurture groups', Jessamine also took part in the panel discussion on the theme 'How nurture theory translates into nurture practice'. Watch out for a new journal associated with the conference, called The International Journal of Nurture in Education, to be launched in May 2015.

The 2014 DECP conference in Oxford featured UCL contributions from DECPsy Tutor and DEdPsy graduate Dr Owen Davis ('Worth a second look? The application of Simultaneous Oral Spelling and Neuro-Linguistic Programming spelling strategies in school settings.' The original research compared the effectiveness of two strategies to support children with spelling difficulties in the learning of high-frequency irregular spellings. In addition, the presentation included an analysis of the views of teaching assistants on how practical they found it to learn and teach the strategies) and DECPsy Co-Director Dr Sandra Dunsmuir ('CBT in Schools: a Qualitative Analysis of Children and Parent Experiences').

Other notable professional news within the Group include a well-deserved promotion for DECPsy tutor and DEdPsy course member Antonia Cobbald to Senior Educational Psychologist at Buckinghamshire, an interesting 6 months for DECPsy 06-09 graduate Dr Emma Viner who has just returned from Uganda on secondment to CAMHS / East London Foundation Trust as part of a mental health project for children, and a new role for DECPsy 07-10 graduate Dr Jennifer Wills who, in addition to her EP work, has taken on a second part-time role as a lecturer at the University of Greenwich. Jen is in charge of writing, delivering, co-ordinating and marking a third year BSc Psychology advanced option on Educational Psychology. Now commencing her second year, Jen says she has really enjoyed it and learnt a huge amount, whilst admitting the role has given her a new perspective on all the lectures and seminars she  sat through during her time at university!

And in research project news, Prof Tony Cline's research project on Child Language Brokering at School has now been completed. The primary aim of the project was to provide an evidence basis for more sensitive and effective practice and more carefully articulated school policies on the use of pupils as language brokers for their own parents and others in school. The draft conclusions of the project team were shared with 30+ teachers, ex-language brokers and researchers here at UCL on 1st March 2014. A website where you can view the guidance that has been finalised as a result and also a report on the project can be accessed here: http://child-language-brokering.weebly.com/

Since the year of the Kings Cross fire Tony has supported the schools work of Changing Faces, a charity that supports and represents people who have conditions or injuries which affect their appearance. He has now joined the organisation's trustees. For more information about their work see - https://www.changingfaces.org.uk/Home

CPD Leading Edge Psychology Day - 3 April 2014

''Educational Psychologists working for 16-25 year olds: What are the possibilities?'

New special educational needs and disabilities legislation and guidance has extended the role of educational psychologists to work with young people up to the age of 25 years. For the majority of educational psychologists this represents a journey into uncharted waters. It is necessary for EPs working both in local authority and also private practice to re-imagine aspects of their role and, in particular, to embrace an understanding of the psychological concerns of 16 to 25 year olds and processes that emphasise person centred planning. This extremely popular and well attended day represented a timely opportunity for EPs to hear first hand accounts about emerging developments and to consider the implications for their own practice and practice settings.

The event boasted a range of speakers including Linda Jordan, Vivienne Clifford, Dr Sandra Dunsmuir and Dr Sarah Wright, and aimed to gain knowledge about what can be learnt from the SEND pathfinders and the FE sector; to deepen a psychological understanding of the needs of 16-25 year olds with special educational needs and disabilities and the possibilites of EP practice; and to stimulate consideration of 'What this means for me'.

More information on the day and about future Leading Edge Day conferences - including the one planned for 16 April 2015 - is available on our CPD website. DEdPsy course members and tutors can access a selection of presentations from the day on the DEdPsy course materials module on Moodle. Click here or on the image above to see larger photographs from the day.

Shahnawaz Khan (1975-2013)

With great sadness we share with you the loss of a much respected member of our tutor team. Shahnawaz (known as Shani) Khan.

Shama and Beverley attended Shani's memorial on 05/02/13 at Waltham Forrest Educational Psychology Service. His family was in attendance. Dr Jey Monsen delivered a moving tribute to Shani as did his colleagues and childhood friends. Sandra compiled a message for Shani's memory book on behalf of his colleagues at UCL and this was read out by Jey at Shani's memorial:

"Shani Khan was a member of the team at UCL between 2008-9, when he worked as a Practice Tutor on the Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology. All of the tutor team were very sad to hear of his tragic and untimely loss and our thoughts are with Shani's wife and children. He always spoke of his family with great warmth and his love for them was clear for all to see.

Shani was an attentive and thoughtful Practice Tutor, keeping trainees' needs in mind, gently steering them through their complex casework and ensuring that they had the most positive experiences on placement in Waltham Forest. He was gentle in his approach and always keen to listen and learn. As a colleague, he was polite, respectful and respected. He was committed to the Educational Psychology Service in Waltham Forest - colleagues there have lost a great ambassador."

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