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Getting it Right for Every Child in Aberdeenshire (with NHS, police, Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action and the Children's Reporter)

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Getting it Right for Every Child in Aberdeenshire (with NHS, police, Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action and the Children's Reporter)

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Sources to support GIRFEC in Aberdeenshire.

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LEAD Scotland Advice and Support - Charity

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LEAD Scotland Advice and Support - Charity

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Advice for pupils with additional support needs to stay safe online.

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Easy Read & accessible resources - Lead Scotland

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Easy Read library We have a fantastic library of Easy Read resources on staying safe online. If you wish to use these for professional use, please let us know how many people you will share these with so we know how many people our resources are reaching. Learn how to stay safe online or Protect […]

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Describes the role of an Educational Psychologist.

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The Educational Psychology Service is part of Aberdeenshire Council Education and Children's Services. Every school has a named Educational Psychologist who works in collaboration with school staff, parents and other professionals to help children and young people achieve their full potential.

Information about the service

What do Educational Psychologists do?

Educational Psychologists use psychology to help improve wellbeing and learning for all children and young people, as well as those with additional support needs. Educational Psychologists have skills in problem analysis and solution-focused frameworks. They also have an understanding of:

Child development and children in social contexts

Potential barriers to learning

School systems

Professional Consultation and support

When there are concerns about a child's wellbeing or learning, the appointed co-ordinator in a school (normally a member of the School Leadership Team) will arrange for a professional Consultation with the members of staff who raised the concern. Other agencies can make contact directly with the Educational Psychology Service. This is a professional support for school staff and not about named pupils- therefore no parental permission is required.

How do Educational Psychologists become formally involved?

A request for Formal Consultation is agreed in conjunction with the school/ referring agency, parents/carers and EP. Following this agreement a Formal Consultation meeting is held to explore issues and agree a joint plan for support/intervention. For information on Consultation please
Please click here to access our service leaflet for schools and professionals. Please click here to access our service leaflet for Early Learning and Child Care Settings.
The following Youtube clip explains what Educational Psychologists do in Aberdeenshire and is designed for pupils and parents/carers.

Training and development.

Educational Psychologists work with a variety of stakeholders and offer different training and professional learning opportunities. For further information on these opportunities please click here.

Other agencies

Any service seeking EPS involvement should have a pre involvement discussion with the area Educational Psychologist, in accordance with Aberdeenshire's GIRFEC Guidance. Pre-involvement discussions are professional consultations, in which the Educational Psychologist provides support or advice to another professional. If it is agreed that formal Educational Psychology involvement is appropriate a Request for Formal Consultation form or GIRFEC Request for Assistance form should be completed and returned to the service.

More information on GIRFEC can be accessed here.

Contact details

If you would like to contact us to discuss our involvement or other aspects of our service please click for office information.

Resources and useful links

We have developed a range of resources on a variety of different themes that may be helpful to you within your practice (e.g. Covid Resources, Additional Support Needs, Well-being resources, Bereavement) To view these resources please .
Privacy notice/ GDPR form
Aberdeenshire ASN website

GIRFEC Aberdeenshire website

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The Educational Psychology Service is part of Aberdeenshire Council Education and Children's Services. Every school has a named Educational Psychologist who works in collaboration with school staff, parents and other professionals to help children and young people achieve their full potential.

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Link to Inclusion, Equity and Wellbeing (IEW)

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In Aberdeenshire we are committed to providing the right support, in the right place, at the right time.
Education and Children's Services (education and social work) will work in partnership with parents / carers and others (such as health professionals) to ensure we meet the needs of all of our children and young people in inclusive schools and communities.
For more information visit Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC).

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Additional Support Needs (ASN) Aberdeenshire, Inclusion, Equity and Wellbeing

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Aberdeenshire council Support Manuals, planning documentation, policies, guidance and contacts including the Support Directory for Families. Education and Children's Services working in partnership to meet the additional support needs of children and young people in inclusive schools and communities

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What is an Educational Psychologist?

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Factors attributing to ASN other than neurodivergence

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Factors attributing to ASN other than neurodivergence

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Physical Health Conditions - Inverurie Academy

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Physical Health Conditions - Inverurie Academy

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Links to information about a number of physical health conditions.

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The Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation is a drug and alcohol education charity that aims to support young people to make safe choices about drugs and alcohol and reduce harm. We do this through increasing understanding of the effects and risks, and helping to develop life skills and resilience. The Foundation was set up in January 2014 by Tim and Fiona Spargo-Mabbs in response to the death of their 16-year-old son Daniel having taken ecstasy.

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Parents " Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation

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Parents and caregivers Guidance and information Our guidance and information pages for parents and caregivers Young people and drugs: the current context Choice, risk and the teenage brain Risks and harm reduction Conversations with your teen Practical strategies If you have concerns Additional resources Workshops, webinars and useful sources Books by Fiona Spargo-Mabbs Information for ...

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DMS Foundation - Information for Young Peopls

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DMS Foundation - Information for Young Peopls

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The DSM Foundation provides up to date, evidence-based, accessible drugs education.

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Young people " Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation

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Young people Guidance and information Our guidance and information pages for young people General effects and risks of drugs Specific effects and risks of drugs Drugs, alcohol and the law Decision making Staying safe Festivals Spiking Additional resources Factsheets on drugs and related topics Useful sources and further information You may also be interested in...

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This brings together our provision that school staff may find useful in their work with students. Note that all materials are regularly reviewed to ensure they are relevant and up-to-date as well as evidence-based.

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Fiona’s new book on young people, drugs and decisions, for parents and carers.

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Online safety in Scotland, including: social media, online fraud, cyber bullying, deleting your browser history and reporting online crime to the police.

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This section aims to support teachers develop their skills and knowledge in supporting learners to keep themselves, their devices and platforms more secure. There are links to: support by stage res…

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Find advice and support on how to protect yourself and your information from online crime. This can be if you've experienced or witnessed it

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1. Connect with your kids by sparking conversation about what they're watching

Children are curious creatures but sometimes need a little nudge from us to get chatting about their interests. While this generation of parents is more digitally engaged than ever, a lot of screen time happens without us looking over their shoulders. Asking open-ended questions about what children are consuming can spark interesting conversation while enhancing their cognitive and communication skills. Questions strengthen how children can actively consolidate knowledge, rather than consuming content passively. Getting kids to think about what they're consuming on screens encourages them to stay curious, see the bigger picture and develop their critical thinking. Sharing content together also provides easy conversation starters. Joint co-viewing experiences are great contexts to boost learning and bonds between parent and children.

Open-ended questions are a wonderful way to stretch children's curiosity, reasoning ability, creativity and independence. When watching educational content on the BBC, children can reinforce their learning with your help. Open-ended language about their favourite interesting shows could include;

● "Tell me about... what the Octonauts found...."
● "Why do you think... the Stegosaurus has a spiky tail? "
● "How can we... help David Attenborough protect the Earth?"

By prompting conversation together about what's on kids' screens, you can both connect by exploring the bigger picture and take the chat to some interesting places!

2. Use screen-time as a tool to navigate large, difficult conversations

Screen time is not only a great way to prompt conversation with your kids, it is also a fantastic tool to use for introducing difficult topics and navigating conversation around them. Sometimes we struggle to find the words or examples ourselves to broach hard and necessary subject matters with children. From matters such as dealing with a new family member, moving to a different home, school or country and difficult emotions or loss. These subjects can be approached safely by engaging first with content which explores the specific theme. Searching for content on a reliable site such as BBC iPlayer, CBeebies and CBBC provides easily accessible and catered resources which address the issue. Find what you are looking for first and then go to your child with the content and a rough idea of questions you can ask them about it. Using open-ended style questions will keep the communication open and flexible for your child to express themselves. Children learn best through scaffolding of information. Watch, then talk about the content first: what the characters are doing, what happened, how they felt etc. Then relate the content to what your child may be experiencing, asking if they are experiencing something similar and how they feel about it. The shows will have specific examples for you to refer back to, ensuring understanding and an open line of communication between you and your child.

4. Use screen-time regularly and moderately to help kids develop a healthy routine

We know that a regular routine is key for children's healthy sleep, neurological and physical development. What we consume and when is also a key part of our routine. Content that is selected for a certain time of day and integrated into regular routines, can help children regulate their natural rhythm better. Setting an allotted time for regular screen-time in moderation can help contribute to a healthy routine. This can also be part of how you integrate limits around screen time use. After-school TV programming, playing games or apps allow kids to unwind during a key transition period of the day. By taking time to have child-appropriate entertainment, this lets children reset and get ready for evening activities such as tea-time, extra-curricular clubs and homework. Another key time of day that can often be tricky for us to settle children is bedtime. Specific bedtimes with some pre-bedtime specific content can help when children won't settle. The BBC provides specifically designed content, such as In The Night Garden which was developed by sleep specialists to help calm children for bedtime.

5. Find content that has your kid's best interests at heart

Passive screen time with repetitive content is not the best brain food, but feeling comfortable with what your kids consume on screens becomes a lot easier when it's been designed with children's development in mind. Particularly if your little one needs additional help, making sure content sources have specialist credentials means the content can be trusted and in line with key child development milestones. There's a plethora of content on BBC that has been designed by specialists and experts in child development so that you can take a step back and feel reassured by the quality of your child's screen time. For example, Yakka Dee was designed by Speech & Language experts and Love Monster was developed by child psychologists to help children process emotions. Screen time can also provide practical information, to help children prepare for unknown experiences, such as learning about medical emergencies with Operation Ouch! By engaging with content first, this can help reduce children's anxiety and stress when faced with the real thing e.g a medical emergency, starting school, going to the doctor's / hospital.

With the BBC, there's always something for the adults too. The BBC and CBeebies websites have a ton of advice on making positive screen time choices and helping children make the most out of engaging with safe screen time and getting the most from their content.

6. Pick playful, digital learning resources

There is increasing evidence on how important play is to maximise our learning and developmental potential. Digital play is now recognised as its own classification of play which can provide a host of benefits such as strong language, problem-solving and even social skills. Children can now learn through play in ways previously impossible before technology. Credible apps and games are fantastic sources for kids to learn while having fun. When we introduce playfulness into educational contexts, studies have found that we actually learn better! BBC Education provides a variety of fun and educational games in line with the UK curriculum. With BBC Bitesize there is fun content for every subject. The CBeebies app and website have fantastic games which are tailored for families to enjoy and to develop children's specific skills, such as learning, bonding, self-expression and discovery.

When produced well, digital play can provide excellent developmental benefits. We all learn differently and technology provides the opportunity to have educational fun for children who would find traditional classroom settings tricky or who need to supplement their learning at home. Research has demonstrated that digital play such as maths games and apps can even help with the engagement and comprehension of reluctant learners. Games and apps could therefore be particularly helpful for children whose learning has been affected by home circumstances, the pandemic and those with additional needs.

10. Find content with positive, diverse and inclusive representation to help all children feel understood and succeed

Studies have shown that diverse and inclusive representation in the media for children plays an important role in their development, growth and positive self-image. Children model themselves based on the people they see around them. We all idolise certain figures as children, fictional or real, which drives our external motivation. If children don't see those who look like them in inspiring roles, they will struggle to emulate and relate to an aspirational role model. On the other hand, if children aren't used to seeing people who are in different circumstances, they'll struggle to develop empathy for them. The BBC holds itself to high standards, representing diverse and inclusive communities across its services and content for children, such as JoJo & Gran Gran or The Dumping Ground. On CBBC, children can watch the documentary series My Life which explores the highs and lows of children across the world, such as Ukraine refugees, children with additional needs or those following their passions and dreams. Exploring other children's unique stories gives children the opportunity to grow compassion and understanding for others.

Watching positive role models or talking about how their favourite characters behave can help children think about and develop positive behaviours. Watching a show such as Hey Duggee, can help children learn how to share and develop empathy skills. By seeing others do important work or acting out scenarios such as helping others, children can learn positive values and life lessons.

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Child development expert Dr Amanda Gummer shares her top ten tips for using screens and how they can be a powerful tool for children and families.

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Our Universal Offer to Children and Young People

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Aberdeenshire’s Approach to Meeting Additional Support Needs 

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Aberdeenshire’s Approach to Meeting Additional Support Needs 

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A guide for parents and carers

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Support for Pupils who are Neurodivergent

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Support for Pupils who are Neurodivergent

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Allows your screen to be read to you - for use in Microsoft Word.

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Tips and tricks for using Immersive Reader in Word | Microsoft

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Make your screen read PDFs to you.

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How To Make Adobe Reader Read Out Loud (2026) (Complete Guide)

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Used in exams to read exams to you.

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Programme used for exams. This is free for pupils to access through GLOW. Please let PTs ASL know if you can't download it on your own devices. You can easily change the colour of the screen (screen masking) using this programme too.

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Below you'll find resources and tips for helping support you when you're feeling anxious, stressed or overwhelmed.

These resources are also available for you to browse whilst you are waiting for a Shout Volunteer to take your conversation.

If your life is at imminent risk, please call the emergency services on 999.

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Resources and support for mental wellbeing

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Below you'll find resources and tips for helping support you when you're feeling anxious, stressed or overwhelmed. These resources are also available for you to browse whilst you are waiting for a Shout Volunteer to take your conversation. If your life is at imminent risk, please call the emergency services on 999.

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Welcome to Every Learner Matters. This website has been designed to support school staff by providing simple, quick‑to‑use intervention ideas that can be put into practice immediately. It offers practical strategies to support wellbeing, inclusion, and readiness to learn, recognising that pupils’