School Counsellor - Finley High School

Teaching Service; Finley; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellbeing programs

Indemnity insurance

Professional supervision

Job summary

Finley High School in NSW is seeking a qualified school counsellor to support student learning and wellbeing within the Department of Education.

You will deliver counselling and psychological assessments for students, work with families and teachers, and participate in supervision within a multidisciplinary wellbeing team.

The role includes travel between worksites, ongoing professional development, and benefits such as wellbeing programs and indemnity insurance provided by the department.

Qualifications

• Experience in counselling using evidence-based interventions for children and young people.
• Experience in psychological assessment, case formulation and reporting for students.
• Ability to collaborate with teachers, families and other stakeholders to improve learning and wellbeing outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Provide counselling and psychological assessment to students.
• Collaborate with schools and families to support student wellbeing.
• Work across primary and high school aged students within a multidisciplinary team.

Skills

Counselling experience

Psychological assessment

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

Registered or provisionally registered psychologist

Job description

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 Finley High 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.

Finley High School is a comprehensive, co-educational high school located in the South-West of the Riverina. The school has an enrolment of 320 students including 7% Aboriginal students. It caters for the educational needs of four towns: Finley, Tocumwal, Berrigan, Jerilderie and the rural community of Blighty. The school is able to effectively cater for all students in a supportive and inclusive environment. There is a strong support structure with three support classes that are integrated within the mainstream school. Wellbeing is a major area identified within the community and the school has developed a Wellbeing Hub which includes a Head Teacher Wellbeing and a Student Support Officer. The school consistently achieves sound results in the Higher School Certificate across a broad range of subjects as well as outstanding results in sport, agriculture and the performing and creative arts. The school is very well supported by an active P & C and has fostered strong partnerships across our four communities, our local primary schools and community organisations. For more information, please visit the school website Finley High School.

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. 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.

Special Notes

Rural and Remote Incentives are available for eligible school counselling position.

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 – WWCC must be NSW.

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 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. If we can make some adjustments to our recruitment/interview process to better help you shine, please reach out to the contact person for this recruitment, details listed above. For more information, visit the NSW Department of Education’s Diversity, equity and inclusion webpage.

Merit selection application guidelines for classroom teachers, executives and principals provide clear advice for applicants and selection panels. The guidelines are available here.

To meet the page limits outlined in the guidelines, all application attachments must be submitted in PDF format. Please note that late applications will not be accepted.