School Counsellor

**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.

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.

The Ponds High School, located in the suburb of The Ponds in the north-west of Sydney is a 7-12 comprehensive high school that will have 2, 370 students in Years 7-12 in 2026. Fifty-three per cent of these students come from a non-English speaking background and 0.2 % identify as ATSI. The school shares a site with Riverbank Public School and is a part of innovative and energetic community approach to teaching and learning. The school has developed outstanding teaching and learning programs including; a strong welfare approach to student wellbeing, a culturally inclusive program and support for the creative and performing arts. The school has three support classes, a HP&GE class in each year and has an active BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program using the learning platform Canvas. There are three Multicategory classes with a newly appointed Head Teacher to oversee these classes. The counsellor supports mainstream and Support class students. For more information, please visit the school website The Ponds 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.

**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.

This is a permanent full time position 1.0 FTE (Full-time equivalent)

**About the NSW Department of Education