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About this job
Position Information
School counsellors are an essential part of the department’s School Counselling Service.
They provide counselling and psychological assessment of students to complement and enhance the work of teachers to strengthen student learning and wellbeing outcomes, and they help families understand and manage their children’s learning and mental health needs. This is a truly collegiate role offering unique challenges and opportunities – both in your professional development and your ability to make an impact on the lives of children and young people.
The successful candidate will be based at Lake Albert Public School and provided with opportunities to work across the lifespan with both primary and high school aged students. Working as a school counsellor in a NSW public school will enable you to engage with a diversity of students (and school communities) like no other child and adolescent psychologist role can. This is a chance to use your skills to make a real difference in the lives of children and young people at a time in their lives when it matters most.
School counsellors receive regular, individual professional supervision with the Senior Psychologist Education and participate in group and peer supervision as a member of the broader district school counselling team. You will most likely be collaborating with a number of school communities and colleagues, as well as outside agencies, with the opportunity to use and expand the full range of your skills and expertise as part of a supportive, multidisciplinary team.
School counsellors are provided with regular opportunities to participate in continuing professional development and the NSW Department of Education will support you to complete or maintain your registration with the Psychology Board of Australia. Other benefits include school holiday leave, travel allowances and health and wellbeing benefits such as our Fitness Passport program. The department will also cover your indemnity insurance as a psychologist.
Lake Albert Public School is a large rural school located on the foreshores of Lake Albert in Wagga Wagga. The school has been an integral part of the local community for more than 150 years. The school has always played an important role within the local area, being steeped with historical significance and it enjoys the ongoing support of parents, carers and community members. Currently, the school has an enrolment of 440 students, along with 50 staff. The school has 19 classes - this includes an IO support unit which caters for students with moderate intellectual disability and/or autism diagnosis. The school employs 12 school learning support officers, as well as 4 interventionists to ensure student learning, social, emotional and behaviour needs are well catered for. The school's motto of 'Strive and Succeed' along with the expectations of 'Respect, Responsibility and Resilience' underpin all facets of school life. For more information, please visit the school website Lake Albert Public School.
Specific Selection Criteria
- Experience in counselling using evidence-based interventions with a demonstrated understanding of the mental health needs of children and young people.
- Experience in the psychological assessment of children and young people, including case formulation and report writing.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate with key stakeholders to improve the learning and wellbeing outcomes of children and young people including students from diverse backgrounds and needs.
Conditions
- An unconditional full approval to teach is a requirement. If you do not hold a full approval to teach with the NSW Department of Education, you are required to commence the application process at the same time as you apply for this teaching opportunity.
- Be a registered or provisionally registered psychologist, or eligible for registration with the Psychology Board of Australia.
- Ability and willingness to travel between worksites.
Special Notes
Successful applicants will be provided with a Departmental induction program, ongoing professional learning and professional supervision.
Find out more about working in the school counselling service. Visit the Department’s School Counselling Service pages to discover more about working as a school psychologist or school counsellor in NSW public schools.
Applicants are to include details of their WWCC clearance number as part of this application.
About the NSW Department of Education
The Department of Education is the largest provider of public education in Australia with responsibility for delivering high-quality public education to two-thirds of the NSW student population. We welcome applications from all ages and genders, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, refugees and people with disability. If we can make some adjustments to our recruitment/interview process to better enable you to shine, please contact the Diversity and Inclusion Team (dandi@det.nsw.edu.au) or visit NSW Department of Education Diversity and Inclusion
New merit selection application guidelines for classroom teachers, executives and principals have been introduced to provide greater clarity to applicants and selection panels. The guidelines are located here. To ensure that your application complies with the guideline page limits, your attachments must be in PDF format.