Work Type: Fixed-term - Full-time
Salary: Salary not specified
Grade: Classroom Teacher - Range 2
Occupation: Classroom teacher
Location: Melbourne - Northern suburbs
Reference: 1509041
Yarra Me School seeks a highly capable Teacher to lead a therapeutic classroom program. The role attracts a higher duties allowance and is a offered under Family Leave conditions. As a member of the Yarra Me School leadership team, the successful applicant will also contribute across other leadership dimensions. The commencement date is flexible.
Yarra Me School is a vibrant, dynamic and inclusive Victorian Department of Education specialist school focused on building the social and emotional capability and wellbeing of our students, so they become better equipped to engage in learning at their mainstream schools. With the main campus located in Preston and another in Hurstbridge, Yarra Me School provides services to state primary schools in the North-East Metropolitan and Hume Merri-bek Areas within the North-Western Victoria Region.
Yarra Me School Students
Typically, Yarra Me School students are experiencing complex and significant social, emotional, behavioural, and learning challenges, contributing to profoundly disrupted engagement at their mainstream school. Students are typically in the Years F-6, whilst the Hurstbridge Farm campus supports students aged 10-17 years.
Yarra Me School Staff
Yarra Me School teachers are typically highly experienced specialist educators who are characterised by emotional intelligence, open-mindedness, determination, adaptability, collaboration, and visible commitment to person-centred approaches.
Yarra Me School Vision
We are deeply passionate champions for positive and respectful relationships, inclusive learning environments, and resilient people.
Yarra Me School Mission
We provide valued and respected programs that collaboratively deliver personalised, evidence-based trauma and social and emotional learning practices that support life-long learning for families, schools and students.
Yarra Me School Philosophy
Central to all Yarra Me School programs is the concurrent observation of Personalisation, Pedagogy, and Partnerships, which are exemplified in the following:
· Relationship development is the first and necessary step to enable learning; students learn via relationships and community, not in social isolation. The trauma-informed approach recognises that Adverse Childhood Experiences disrupt student development and that students will re-claim their capability with attuned, person-centred support and interventions.
· The Voice and Agency of the student and their parents / carers are crucial enabling factors for the student¿s development and the fidelity of the Team Around the Learner.
· Student success is achieved by building the student¿s Personal & Social Capabilities across multiple settings.
· This is achieved when the adults provide an environment that encourages the student to thrive.
· Thriving occurs when the student believes they are safe, that they belong, that they are understood and cared for, that their environment is predictable, that they are well-held by strong and clear expectations, and that interventions are attuned to their specific strengths, capabilities and developmental needs.
· To thrive the student also needs sustained relationships with adults that develop the student¿s understanding of their world and their place in it. Through these relationships, through the supports and expectations held, through the person-centred and other interventions provided, through the language shared, and through the efforts to help the student make meaning of their experiences, the student can develop better responses to their world. Thus, the student can achieve wellbeing and learning concurrently, which leads to increased engagement with schooling.
· Developing a well-coordinated Team Around the Learner is necessary to achieve student success, and also to sustain student success, especially when it provides consistency and predictability across home and school settings. The Team Around the Learner typically consists of the student, the parents/guardians, the mainstream school ES, teachers & leaders, and other professionals.
· The conditions for sustained student success are the concurrent engagement of student, parents/carers, and mainstream school teachers, education support staff, and leadership.
· Essentially, every response to the student is developmentally attuned, person-centred, and personalised; pedagogy is personalised and designed to promote the student¿s self-efficacy; and, in partnership, the adults provide a wrap-around student support team
YARRA ME SCHOOL PROGRAMS
All Yarra Me School programs offer a time limited service for each learner. Yarra Me School conducts the Preston Program (classroom-based), which currently caters to students in the primary Years in a short-term intervention for students exhibiting significant disengagement from learning at tier 3 level; the Positive Partnerships outreach coaching service for Primary school students at tier 2 & 3 level of intervention; Hurstbridge Farm program (classroom-based, ages 10-17 years) conducted at a DFFH residential facility; and, a professional learning service.
In 2025 the Yarra Me School will provide educational services to approximately 110 students (Preston Program - 9 per semester; Hurstbridge farm - 4.5 per semester; Positive Partnerships - totalling up to 42 per semester). The Yarra Me Positive Partnerships Service provides outreach coaching to mainstream primary schools. Yarra Me School delivers programs predominantly for primary aged students.
** You are welcome to contact the Principal (0476 848 932) to discuss the role and the Yarra Me School philosophy ** Please see www.yarrame.vic.edu.au (Please note our website is under reconstruction).
Range 2 classroom teachers play a significant role in assisting the school to improve student performance and educational outcomes determined by the school strategic plan and state-wide priorities and contributing to the development and implementation of school policies and priorities.
A critical component of this work will focus on increasing the knowledge base of staff within their school about student learning and high quality instruction to assist their school to define quality teacher practice.
Range 2 classroom teachers will be expected to:
The role of classroom teacher may include but is not limited to:
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.
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.
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
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
Please ensure that your application includes:
Please note that the selection panel may seek additional referees beyond those you name. Consistent with policy, we shall advise you if we will take this action.
To be eligible for employment, transfer or promotion in the principal or teacher class:
Details of qualification requirements as updated from time to time can be found at Recruitment in Schools.
SC1 Demonstrated knowledge of the Victorian Curriculum, as it relates to students referred to Yarra Me School, including the ability to implement and evaluate intervention programs for students with complex needs. Demonstrated high level understanding of initiatives in Supporting Students with Additional Needs.
SC2 Outstanding classroom teaching skills and the capacity to mentor and coach primary school colleagues to continually improve teaching and learning.
SC3 Demonstrated experience to monitor and assess student behaviour and learning data, and to use this data to develop quality personalised learning plans and trauma-aware support plans in the domains of social, emotional, and behaviour.
SC4 Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills. Demonstrated experience in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with students, parents, colleagues and the broader school community to support student learning, agency, wellbeing and engagement.
SC5 Demonstrated strong commitment to ongoing professional learning to enable further development of skills, expertise and teaching capacity including providing high level professional assistance to build the capacity of other teachers and the school community.
SC6 Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of trauma-sensitive behaviour interventions, and an ability to intervene effectively with students who have significant social, emotional and behavioural needs.
SC7 Demonstrated high level team-teaching skills aligned to the Yarra Me School Philosophy.