Thursday, 10 February 2022

Mental health in schools program

Ms SULEYMAN (St Albans) (17:22): (6211) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Education. The action that I seek is for the minister to provide me with an update on the progress of the mental health practitioners in secondary schools initiative. I am proud to be part of a government that has transformed the education system in this state, and in particular in my electorate of St Albans, delivering record-breaking levels of funding, building new schools, upgrading old ones and importantly supporting our staff and students throughout their learning journey.

We know that when students are well supported in their learning environments they can not only succeed but also build strong foundations for their future. I would like to see every student have those tools to thrive in secondary studies as well. The mental health practitioners initiative does just that, giving all students in government secondary schools access to counselling and early intervention, in particular providing those services and coordinating support with community health services. This has meant that for those students that need some sort of support there are mental health professionals ready to assist them whenever issues arise or whenever they require those particular services. This $51.2 million program builds on other critical work to boost support for every Victorian student, like the Victorian anti-bullying and mental health initiative and the schoolwide positive behaviour support program.

It has been great to see a smooth transition for local students going back to school. I have had the opportunity to speak to schools in my electorate, and despite the challenging circumstances they have done a terrific job in making sure that there is support for parents and families. In particular I do want to say thank you to parents and families for getting kids vaccinated, including at local school pop-ups in my community, which have been received positively. It is fantastic to see so many kids and families getting vaccinated.

I also want to thank the teachers, parents and school staff. They have done an incredible job during the pandemic and continue to support and nurture students in my electorate. I also want to thank the Minister for Education for all of his efforts in keeping our schools, staff and students safe by providing air purifiers for classrooms, RATs and sensible COVID-safe measures to protect local schools in my electorate and, most importantly, to make sure that schools remain open during this term. Hopefully we will see a fantastic year where schools are back on track providing those activities—sports, camps, excursions and so on.