allyance is a social enterprise not for profit in-school counselling service. It was originally formed in April
2009 by schools in the CABMAG (Comberton, Bassingbourn, Melbourn and Gamlingay) area as a
response to the lack of high-level mental health support for children who were experiencing or had
experienced difficult life events, particularly those of primary age. The schools agreed to pool funding
in order to use economies of scale to provide an enhanced and flexible service. With support from the
Local Authority, latterly in the form of the Dedicated Schools Grant, schools within the allyance
cluster are able to access high quality counselling at a subsidised rate. Through our network of
counsellors allyance also provides services for schools outside the cluster to buy into.
The allyance clinical team consists of representatives from different therapeutic disciplines and
includes:
A Clinical Supervisor
A Music Therapist
Play Therapists
Psychodynamic Counsellors
The therapists are a strong and stable professional team who all share the same vision and
commitment to allyance. They have a lot of experience of working in primary schools and therefore
understand the institutional context of working in an education setting, including liaison with relevant
staff and parents. They can also attend multi-agency meetings where appropriate.
All members of the allyance team are accredited by the relevant professional body according to their
qualifications, e.g. PTUK (Play Therapy United Kingdom), UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy),
BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy), BAMT (British Association of Music
Therapy). As a part of their accreditation and membership they receive professional supervision from
these bodies. This complements the half-termly group allyance-specific sessions run by our clinical
supervisor which allow them to reflect on current cases.
Annual safeguarding / child protection training is delivered by www.safecic.co.uk who also oversee
DBS checks. Therapists also receive a set of safeguarding documents to complement this training.
Allyance schools are also responsible for providing their counsellors relevant specific Child
Protection / Safeguarding information about their school each September.
The running of allyance is overseen by a steering group which includes cluster headteachers. The
steering group meets termly to discuss finances / accounts, training of counsellors, (anonymised)
pupils in counselling etc. The steering group also oversee the work of the allyance coordinator, who
works with the clinical supervisor to deploy the team of counsellors and therapists.
The allyance model in practice...
Each school pays in a set amount to receive an agreed level of counselling/support. (see
section below).
Schools in consultation with therapists decide how to use their allocated time – referrals
typically come through the Headteacher or SENDCO. Sessions are one hour long, this
includes face to face client time, report writing and on occasions liaising with school staff.
Allyance counselling is based on need rather than a fixed number of sessions.
Sometimes it may be appropriate for a counsellor to meet with the parents before the sessions
commence.
Each counsellor will start and end with a strengths and difficulties questionnaire completed by
child, parents and school. This is then repeated approximately 6 weeks after therapy sessions
have started to inform discussions about the progress.
Counsellors will liaise with school staff regarding any potential strategies which might support
the young person.
Where appropriate, counsellors will help year 6 students to prepare for transition to secondary
school. In some cases they may continue to support the young person for a short time after
they have transferred to Year 7.
Please email Ann Jones at ajones@melbournvc.org to find out the current rates.
The costs include travel and supervision.
Schools within the Bassingbourn and Melbourn clusters may take advantage of a slightly reduced rate.
In cases where extra counselling hours are required during the year, allyance will aim to use its
overall size and flexibility to support the relevant child/school. In addition to 1:1 counselling we can
offer bespoke packages tailored to the needs of individual schools. (This is not a definitive list if a
school has a particular request where possible we would be happy to accommodate).
