Selection Criteria
1.Educational leadership
- Outstanding capacity for visionary and exemplary educational leadership of a school.
- Highly developed skills in leading and managing change including the leadership of others in the process of change
2. Financial, managerial and administrative ability
- Outstanding financial, organisational and resource management skills.
3. Planning, policy and program development and review
- Exemplary values appropriate to the development of student learning with a demonstrated capacity to achieve high quality student outcomes
- Demonstrated ability to implement Department policies to a high level
- An understanding of, and a commitment to, the use of learning technologies to improve teaching and learning.
4. Leadership of staff and students
- A highly developed capacity to motivate staff, develop their talents and build an effective team.
- A clear capacity to foster a learning environment that takes account of the individual needs of students and helps students to develop their special abilities and talents.
5. Interpersonal and communication skills
- Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills in individual, small group and community contexts.
- Exemplary values pertaining to personal qualities of objectivity, sensitivity and integrity.
- An ability to work with parents and the community to develop a strong learning environment.
Role
Balwyn High School (BHS) is one of Victoria¿s leading government secondary schools. Our students are provided with comprehensive academic, wellbeing and co-curricular programs. With a reputation for excellence across all domains, we continue to focus on strategic priorities and the rollout of initiatives that enhance student learning, wellbeing, and inclusion.
The Assistant Principal: Wellbeing and Inclusion is a new Principal Team role. This reflects our focus on fostering safe, positive and inclusive environments for all students, in every setting, every day.
The appointee will join highly skilled and collaborative Principal and Wellbeing Teams, and work closely with the sub-schools, the Director of Wellbeing and Inclusion, Leading Teachers, Learning Specialists, and the Business Manager, to deliver the school's Strategic Plan, Annual Implementation Plan, and Child Safe obligations. The Balwyn High School Wellbeing Team includes psychologists, counsellors, chaplains, an occupational therapist, learning support aides, and a dedicated administration officer.
The appointee will provide strategic direction, expert leadership and operational oversight of student wellbeing, child safety, disability inclusion, and allied health programs; all critical to the provision of learning environments in which students can thrive. This work will involve consultation with the Principal Team, who work together to deliver and evaluate systems that improve student learning, wellbeing, safety, inclusion, engagement, and holistic development. The appointee will ensure that the school's wellbeing practices reflect the standards of leading schools - proactive, data-driven, student-centred, future-focused, and aligned with best practice in adolescent development.
The role oversees:
- Whole-school wellbeing strategy, structures and performance
- Disability Inclusion and learning adjustments
- Expert knowledge of Child Safe Standards and whole staff compliance
- Allied health teams and external wellbeing partnerships
- Staff capability-building in wellbeing and inclusive practice
- Student and family case management at Tiers 2 and 3
- Cohort-wide wellbeing program initiatives (both proactive and responsive)
- Culture-building: safety, connectedness, identity, and belonging
Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership of Wellbeing and Inclusion
- Lead a whole-school, multi-tiered approach to wellbeing, aligned with evidence, strategic priorities and the BHS Graduate Profile.
- Design, communicate, and evaluate wellbeing strategy across Years 7- 12, ensuring alignment with pedagogy, engagement, and data.
- Lead cross-school initiatives in connectedness, sense of belonging, gender-specific wellbeing, respectful relationships, and positive psychology.
- Prepare strategic updates for School Council, Senior Leadership, and community publications.
- Model leadership that is professional, relational, innovative, evidence-informed.
Disability Inclusion, Inclusive Practice and Learning Support
- Oversee Disability Inclusion at the whole-school level, ensuring compliance, clarity of process, and high-quality adjustments.
- Lead the allocation and strategic use of Tier 2 and Tier 3 funding to maximise impact.
- Co-lead capability-building for teachers in differentiated practice with the AP Teaching and Learning.
- Oversee Disability Inclusion Profiles (DIPs), SSGs, IEPs, and Adjustment Profiles via the Director of Wellbeing and Inclusion.
- Ensure smooth transitions for students with disabilities, into, through, and out of Balwyn High School.
Child Safe Leadership
- Lead the ongoing compliance of the 11 Child Safe Standards.
- Ensure all staff understand mandatory reporting obligations and participate in annual training.
- Oversee compliance documentation, reviews, audits, and communication of Child Safe practices.
- Lead student voice in Child Safe initiatives, including student-led safety protocols and feedback systems.
Wellbeing Operations, Allied Health and Case Management
- Lead day-to-day wellbeing operations across both sub-schools in consultation with the APs for the subschools.
- Oversee psychologists, counsellors, chaplaincy, Occupational Therapist, learning support teams and other relevant ES staff.
- Ensure high-quality case management processes, documentation, safety plans and re-engagement meetings.
- Establish and maintain strong partnerships with Headspace, SSS, community clinicians, local councils, and youth services.
- Ensure timely responses to critical incidents, including coordination of post-intervention support.
Staff Capability, Culture and Professional Learning
- Lead professional learning in behaviour support, trauma-informed practice, adolescent development, restorative approaches, and inclusion.
- Coach and mentor staff to enhance wellbeing-inclusive practice within the classroom.
- Build capacity of the wider Leadership Team, Wellbeing Team and Sub-School Teams to use wellbeing data to identify student needs.
- Lead culture-building to ensure staff wellbeing aligns with the Staff Wellbeing Action Plan.
Data-Informed Decision Making
- Monitor attendance, AtoSS, engagement, referral patterns, safety incidents, and achievement data to identify trends.
- Lead data review cycles and report insights to the Principal Team.
- Implement and regularly evaluate the impact of wellbeing interventions at scale.
Community Engagement and Communication
- Lead parent/carer engagements on wellbeing, mental health, inclusion, and child safety.
- Represent wellbeing and inclusion at school events, including information nights and transition programs.
- Develop strategic communications (Wellbeing Matters in Principal Team Notices, inclusion updates in the Lion newsletter).
Who May Apply
Teachers currently registered or eligible for registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching and qualified to teach and/or have demonstrated experience in the curriculum area(s) specified for the position.
Diversity and Inclusion
The department is committed to diversity and inclusion and developing a workforce that is representative of the community we service. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms - culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQA+, 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 safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work and diversity across all schools and Department workplaces. It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for staff with disability (see Workplace adjustment guidelines).
Additional support and advice on the recruitment process is available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander candidates from the Koorie Outcomes Division (KOD) via [email protected]
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.
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. All schools have a Child Safety Code of Conduct consistent with the department's exemplar available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/child-safe-standards/policy
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. Information on the department values is available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview
Applicants must include:
- A specific response to each of the selection criteria (not more than 5 pages)
- A CV with a summary of experience and qualifications
- Contact details for up to three referees who can comment on your suitability with respect to each of the selection criteria
Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to contact Deborah Harman, Principal, for more details of this exciting position.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (03) 9819 7911
Timeline
Position advertised: Friday 28 November 2025
Applications close: Thursday 11 December (midnight)
Shortlisting completed: Monday 15 December (8.30am)
Interviews: Wednesday 17 December 2025
Mercure Hotel, Doncaster
Conditions of Employment
- All staff employed by the Department and schools have access to a broad range of employment conditions and working arrangements.
- Appointment of successful applicants will be made subject to a satisfactory pre-employment conditions check.
- A probationary period may apply during the first year of employment and induction and support programs provided.
- Detailed information on all terms and conditions of employment is available on the Department's Human Resources website at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/Pages/default.aspx
Qualification Requirements
To be eligible for employment, transfer or promotion in the principal or teacher class:
- The person must have provisional or full registration approved by the Victorian Institute of Teaching; and
- if the person completed an Australian postgraduate level initial teaching program or course of study on or after 1 January 2024, they must demonstrate that they have satisfactorily completed a postgraduate level accredited initial teacher education program that has been accredited by an Australian State or Territory Teacher Regulatory Authority as satisfying the requirements of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership 'Accreditation of initial teacher education programs in Australia: Standards and Procedures'; and
- a person who graduated from a Victorian Initial Teacher Education (ITE) program after 1 July 2016 must also demonstrate that they have passed the literacy and numeracy test for initial teacher education (LANTITE) requirements (this condition is satisfied where the LANTITE requirement is part of the Victorian ITE program completed by the person).
Details of qualification requirements as updated from time to time can be found at Recruitment in Schools.
Location Profile
For more information about Balwyn High School's ethos, programs, and Strategic Plan, please visit https://www.balwynhs.vic.edu.au/
Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to contact Deborah Harman, Principal, for more details of this exciting position.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (03) 9819 7911