School principals shoulder tremendous responsibilities within their communities as they lead their staff in ensuring that students received the very best educational opportunities available. Principals chaplains have a unique role to play in helping to recognise and address the stresses and pressures of school principals, particularly in rural communities.
By offering a supportive, independent, and non-judgmental presence, Principals chaplaincy prioritises the social and emotional needs of the Principals in the area.
The Principal chaplaincy programme supports the Department of Education “Principal health and wellbeing strategy 2023 – 2027” and the vision of building a wellbeing culture that helps cultivate sustainability for principals. The programme, in turn, supports Principals in building capacity through:
Providing pastoral care
Ensuring confidentiality and impartiality
Supporting holistic wellbeing
This programme affords principals the space to reflect on challenging situations both in their school roles and their personal lives.
Principals Chaplains use a holistic approach to pastorally care for school principals and their school communities. This can also involve:
Provision of direct support to principals whose school or community has been impacted by loss or other events with follow up and ongoing pastoral support.
Building relationships with the regional directors as well as through principal networks, and attend as appropriate to strengthen the support in networking between regions.
Integrating the use of the iReflect wellbeing app to support the ongoing pastoral care as a tool that can be implemented within principals’ schools to support staff and students as appropriate.
These meaningful connections and partnerships contribute greatly to the wellbeing of school principals, actively promoting a focus on a culture of caring within school communities.
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