School Counsellor

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 Wallerawang 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.

Wallerawang Public School is located in regional NSW on beautiful Wiradjuri country, signified by the Gugaa (Goanna) totem. We have a current enrolment of 185 students, including 48 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and 9 EAL/D students. Students are provided with opportunities to learn, grow and belong as they engage in explicit teaching and quality learning, daily in the classrooms developing their intellect and in the social-emotional, physical and creative domains through opportunities provided at Wallerawang. We prioritise trust and respect as the foundations to build positive relationships and partnerships, connecting our students, teachers, families and the wider school community.

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

• Be a registered or provisionally registered psychologist, or eligible for registration with the Psychology Board of Australia.
• Ability and willingness to travel between worksites.
• Must have a valid unrestricted provisional or full driver’s licence with the ability to drive oneself.
• This position is under the Teachers award (Crown Employees (Teachers in Schools and Related Employees) Salaries and Conditions Award 2024).
• To be eligible to apply, you must have an unconditional, full approval to teach or have eligibility to apply for an approval to teach.

Special Notes

Successful applicants will be provided with a Departmental induction program, ongoing professional learning and professional supervision. Applicants are to include details of their WWCC clearance number as part of this application – WWCC must be NSW.

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 people of all backgrounds, including but not limited to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, people of any age or gender, people from culturally and linguistically diverse groups and or from the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, refugees, people with disability, people with sensory differences, and neurodiverse people.