School Counsellor - Parkes High School

Educationhq; Parkes; On-site; AUD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and wellbeing benefits

Travel allowances

Indemnity insurance

School holiday leave

Job summary

Educationhq is recruiting a school counsellor to support Parkes High School in NSW. The role focuses on counselling and psychological assessment to enhance student wellbeing and learning outcomes, with opportunities to work across primary and high school aged students.

The successful candidate will be registered or provisionally registered with the Psychology Board of Australia and travel between worksites as needed, within a supportive, multidisciplinary team.

Qualifications

• Experience in counselling using evidence-based interventions with the mental health needs of children and young people.
• Experience in psychological assessment of children and young people, including case formulation and report writing.
• Ability to collaborate with key stakeholders to improve learning and wellbeing outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with school communities and external agencies to support student wellbeing.
• Provide counselling and psychological assessments to students and contribute to case plans.
• Participate in supervision and professional development within a multidisciplinary team.

Skills

Counselling

Psychological assessment

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

Registration with Psychology Board of Australia

Job description

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 Parkes 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.

Parkes High School is a comprehensive secondary school with an enrolment of 575 students, including 26% Indigenous students. Parkes High School is a Stronger Smarter and Positive Behaviour for Learning school, and is part of the Henry Parkes Learning Community. Parkes High School provides quality education to an expanding rural community in the central west of NSW. Programs exist to support transition and High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) students and established, strong partnerships exist with the community. The school has a proud history of outstanding academic, sporting, cultural and performing arts achievements, and offers a range of Vocational Education and Training courses. For more information, please visit the school website Parkes High 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

• 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

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.

If the recommended applicant is seeking permanent part time employment (FTE from 0.1 to 0.9 inclusive), they will be offered an appointment at their desired FTE. Applicants on the eligibility list will be offered the remaining FTE but are not obliged to accept. Further information can be found on the merit selection webpage.

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.