In brief: Jersey schools now have faster access to specialist mental health and educational psychology support following the completion of a full team. From September 2026, every school has been allocated its own named educational psychologist. The Government of Jersey has described the development as a “significant achievement.”
Every School Gets Its Own Psychologist
The Government of Jersey has announced that recruitment for a full Educational Psychology and Wellbeing Service (PAWBS) team is now complete, meaning each school across the island has been allocated a dedicated educational psychologist. The BBC reports that from September 2026, both mainstream and specialist schools benefit from this named allocation, giving pupils, families and staff a consistent point of specialist contact rather than joining a queue and hoping for the best.
The wellbeing team includes educational psychologists, assistant educational psychologists and wellbeing facilitators, who are working with schools to support learning, inclusion, attendance and emotional wellbeing. Primary schools will continue to benefit from dedicated wellbeing facilitators in addition to the psychologist allocation. Jersey also has 100 pupil wellbeing support workers in schools, the BBC notes.
What the Service Actually Does
The team’s role goes beyond simply talking to struggling children. According to the government, the service brings psychological frameworks and advice designed to build capacity and confidence within schools themselves, helping educators and parents as much as the children directly. The idea is that by embedding expertise within each school, the system builds its own resilience rather than depending on external referrals that can take months.
Rachel O’Connor, principal educational psychologist, said the development was “a significant step forward for Jersey’s schools and families,” adding that the team looks “forward to working in partnership with educators, parents and children, bringing psychological frameworks and advice that can help bring about change and build capacity and confidence to ensure our children and schools receive the help they need to thrive.”
Ministerial Response
Minister for Education Catherine Curtis welcomed the news, calling it a “significant achievement” and saying it would “make a real difference for children, families and staff.” She added: “Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed and feel supported in school.”
It is worth noting that the completion of this team represents the end of a recruitment process, not the launch of an entirely new initiative. The service has existed in some form previously, but the island had not previously reached the staffing level required to give every school its own named psychologist. Getting there is a genuine milestone, even if the language around it carries the customary ministerial enthusiasm.
Source: BBC News
