School Counselling Service - Primary Schools

West Lothian Council is seeking to appoint a fully qualified and experienced external service provider to provide Counselling Services to West Lothian Primary schools West Lothian Council is seeking to appoint a fully qualified and experienced external service provider to achieve the vision of an integrated and flexible service which would meet the need for building resilient children and young people (aged 10 years and up) in the upper primary age range (P6&7) across all 69 primary school settings in the authority.

It is envisaged that access to the service should be easy for schools and should feel seamless for children and young people and their families as part of the ongoing assessment and intervention planning process. A focus on building resilience, especially in relation to the transition to secondary school will be a key element of the work.

It is expected that the provider will work closely with colleagues in secondary schools to support transition specifically where this would be in the best interests of the child. The provider would also be in a position to offer some specific transition intervention for particularly vulnerable P7 pupils in the summer term of each academic year.

This would be closely aligned with the authority Cluster Assessment and Support for Transition (CAST) process. The ability to support young people over summer holiday periods where this is desirable will be a key element of the contract.

In addition, the provider should consider how to support the local authority in building capacity in schools to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people through staff development and curriculum design. It is also expected that the provider will work closely with the Educational Psychology Service to maintain a quality evaluation framework as a key element of the contract.

This will enable West Lothian Council to gather and report on council wide evaluation information and to meet the reporting requirements set by Scottish Government. Additional information: The council may wish to utilise the 24 month available extension in any combination e.g. 2 periods of 12 months.