Mental Health Wellbeing Leader / Classroom Teacher

Job Description
Location: Western Region | Ballarat
Job type: Full time / From 28/01/2025 - 27/01/2026
Organisation: Schools (Government)
Salary: Salary not specified
Occupation: Education and Training
Reference: 1447864
Location Profile
Skipton Primary School is situated 50 km south-west of Ballarat on the Glenelg Highway. The school has a long history of providing quality education for the children in the town and farming families in the district. In 2024 it has an enrolment of 63 students. Our vision captures what the school is working towards for our students, which is to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens. We do this by working and learning together, respecting and supporting each other in a productive and caring environment, and seeking to ensure that all students have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Skipton's four core values are: leading and achieving, being responsible, being respectful and caring, and being healthy.
The workforce consists of 12 staff, including six teachers, 5 education support staff and the principal. The school has excellent academic results and learning growth. Our Literacy Instructional Model informs our teaching and next year we are refining our Literacy Instructional Model. The school runs a one-to-one computer program with a mix of iPads and PCs. Our specialist programs are science, art, library, sustainability, digital technologies and Auslan.
Extra-curricular activities are extensive. Sporting opportunities include participation in regional swimming, athletics, cross-country, golf and cricket. Students are involved in camping programs and interstate trips. Other activities include the costume program at Sovereign Hill, tree planting around the town and participation in ANZAC and Remembrance Day commemorations. Many of our students enter local photographic and art competitions and do extremely well, and all the children get to perform in an end-of-year concert.
Our students, staff, parents and wider community are highly involved in the school and committed to deliver a high-quality education for the town and district. Colleges in Ballarat and Beaufort love getting our graduates because of the academic standard, values and work ethic our graduates bring with them.
We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated person to join our team, who can demonstrate a passion for primary education and bring additional skills to the staff. Please see our website for more background information on the school.
Selection Criteria
SC1: Demonstrated ability to inform and influence the work of others involved in the engagement, mental health, wellbeing or learning of children and young people.
SC2: Demonstrated ability to input into the development, implementation and evaluation of processes and strategies relating to mental health, wellbeing or learning.
SC3: Demonstrated ability to support a student's mental health, wellbeing or learning by developing and maintaining connection with external services.
SC4: Demonstrated high level interpersonal skills and communication skills. Demonstrated high level of capability to establish and maintain collaborative relationships with students, parents, other employees and the broader school community to focus on student learning, wellbeing and engagement.
SC5: Demonstrated ability to influence and negotiate by gaining buy-in and ownership for ideas, gaining agreement to proposals, or involving experts or other third parties to strengthen a case.
Role
The Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System highlighted that primary schools provide opportunities to identify children with mental health and wellbeing challenges, who can then be referred to treatment, care and support.
The Mental Health in Primary Schools program is being expanded to every government and low-fee non-government primary school in Victoria. Scaling up across the state from 2023, by 2026 every primary school will be able to employ a Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader to implement a whole-school approach to wellbeing.
The Department of Education and Training has been piloting the Mental Health in Primary Schools program in Victorian schools since 2020 in partnership with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Evaluation of this pilot program has shown that 95 per cent of Mental Health and Wellbeing Leaders consider the Mental Health in Primary Schools model has improved their school's capacity to support students' mental health and wellbeing needs.
Participating schools receive funding to employ a
Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader , a qualified teacher, to work across the school to implement a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing for students, staff and families based on a broad knowledge of the needs of the school community.
The role of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader is to:
build capability of the whole school with regard to mental health and wellbeing (identification, promotion and prevention),
provide support to staff to better identify and support students with mental health needs,
establish clear pathways for referral for students requiring assessment and intervention, and monitor and evaluate student progress.
The role provides a proactive focus for the promotion and prevention of mental health and wellbeing through assessment and implementation of context-relevant programs, approaches and initiatives based on a broad and extensive knowledge of the needs of the school.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader role is not a clinical role and is not designed for direct intervention. The role is seen as a key conduit in creating referral pathways once a teacher or other staff member identifies a concern in the classroom.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Leaders are provided training in mental health literacy, supporting emerging needs, and building school capacity and receive ongoing support and professional development through structured and regular Communities of Practice. Training is developed and facilitated by the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at University of Melbourne, supported by Murdoch Children's Research Institute.
Responsibilities
Promote a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing to students, staff and families
Support teachers and school staff to expand their capacity to embed evidence-based mental health strategies, interventions and programs and build mental health literacy to identify and support primary school students with mental health concerns.
Collaborate with school staff to inform, influence and provide input into teaching and learning relating to mental health and wellbeing. Provide support to school staff and classroom teachers to build their capabilities to embed mental health into the classroom.
Work with school leadership and wellbeing teams to embed whole school approaches to mental health into school planning and strategic processes. Coordinate clear referral pathways internally (within school) and externally (to community services) for students identified as requiring further assessment and intervention.
Proactively work with and support regional staff, school wellbeing and leadership teams, teachers, parents/carers and other external agencies to coordinate targeted mental health support for primary school students.
Who May Apply
Applicants should be currently registered or eligible for registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching and qualified to teach.
A qualification in student wellbeing or mental health is desirable but not required.
EEO AND OHS Commitment
Applicants seeking part-time employment are encouraged to apply for any teaching service position and, if they are the successful candidate, request a reduced time fraction. Such requests will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and will be subject to the operational requirements of the school.
The Department of Education is committed to the principles of equal opportunity, and diversity and inclusion for all. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms - gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for roles within the Department. The Department recognises that the provision of family friendly, supportive, safe and harassment free workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work, diversity and safety across all schools and Department workplaces. It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for persons with a disability.
Child Safe Standards
Victorian government schools are child safe environments. Our schools actively promote the safety and wellbeing of all students, and all school staff are committed to protecting students from abuse or harm in the school environment, in accordance with their legal obligations including child safe standards.
DE Values
The department's employees commit to upholding the department's Values: Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights. The department's Values complement each school's own values and underpin the behaviours the community expects of Victorian public sector employees, including those who work in Victorian Government Schools.
VIT LANTITE
To be eligible for employment, transfer or promotion in the principal or teacher class a person must have provisional or full registration from the Victorian Institute of Teaching. In addition, from 3 August 2020, to be eligible for employment in the principal class or teacher class, a person who graduated from a Victorian Initial Teacher Education program after 1 July 2016, must demonstrate that they have passed the literacy and numeracy test for initial teacher education (LANTITE) requirements.
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