School Counsellor

The school counsellor attends the school 2 ½ days each week and supports teaching, learning and welfare programs through educational testing, counselling, referrals and advice. The counsellor works with students, parents or carers and teachers in a variety of ways. The counsellor’s work includes:

· assisting parents or carers to make informed decisions about their child’s education

· assessing students’ learning and behaviour

· assisting schools to identify and address disabilities that affect students’ learning

· liaising with other agencies concerned with the well-being of students.

School counsellors are members of the school’s student learning support team (LST). With the agreement of parents or carers, school counsellors will pass on to teachers information that will assist them to better meet the needs of their students.

Referrals to the counsellor may be initiated by the student, their parent or carer, or by their teacher. Where the parent or carer refers their child, additional information may be sought for the class teacher or LST.

School counselling is a confidential service and school counsellors will check with students, parents or carers before passing on information (such as the results of tests for learning difficulties) to others. This presumption of confidentiality can be overridden only by specific legal requirements (eg, child protection legislation) or where someone may suffer harm if information is withheld.