The role of the guidance officer at Sandy Strait State School
Guidance Officers identify factors that can be barriers to learning and development, and assist in planning how best to support students at school. Guidance Officers may work directly with the student or with the student's teachers, support personnel, family, other specialists, or professionals from other agencies depending on the issues to be resolved and the age of the student.
Sandy Strait State School has access to a school based Guidance Officer 5 days a week. Our Guidance Officer has high level training in a range of counselling frameworks, behaviour support strategies and in the assessment and diagnosis of a variety of educational and developmental difficulties.
Students with complex educational support needs are generally identified through discussions between the student’s family and classroom teacher, and then referred to the Guidance Officer through the school special needs committee.
The same process is utilised to prioritise requests for Guidance Officer support for medical or mental health assessments being conducted by Queensland Health.
Our Guidance Officer also provides a non-referral service for students experiencing stressful life events in which a more immediate support response is needed.