Pastoral Care

Bethany’s chaplaincy service aims to assisting the staff to build healthy relationships and provide pastoral care to the students of the school. Chaplaincy is an important part of providing a supportive school environment and ensuring that students have a positive experience at the school.

Aims, Overview, General Information and Details

Bethany Lutheran Primary School (BLPS) supports its Chaplaincy Service in accordance with the National Schools Chaplaincy/Student Welfare Service provisions provided by DEEWR and funded by the Commonwealth Government of Australia. Student, parent and staff involvement are totally voluntary.

BLPS Chaplaincy aims to:

Provide students, their families and staff with support and or appropriate referrals, in difficult situations such times of grief or when students are facing social, personal or emotional challenges.

Support students to explore their spirituality and providing guidance about spirituality, values and ethical matters or referring students to, or sourcing appropriate services, to meet these needs; and facilitating access to support agencies in the community, where applicable.

Support students and staff to create an environment which promotes the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development and wellbeing of all students.

Support students and staff to create an environment of cooperation and mutual respect, promoting an understanding of diversity and the range of cultures and their related traditions.

Be approachable to all students, staff and members of the school community.

Support students, their families and staff of all beliefs and not seeking to impose any beliefs or persuade an individual toward a particular set of beliefs.

Parents, staff and students are free to ‘opt out’ of services by providing written preferences to that effect, as outlined in Section 5.2 of the Schools Chaplaincy guidelines.

BLPS Chaplaincy Overview:

The chaplain will work primarily on establishing and enhancing positive and healthy relationships among the entire school community in a variety of ways and settings. These will include both informal and formal one-to-one conversations with students, staff and parents,speaking to groups and engaging with large meetings of the school community. These may take place in the classroom, at assemblies and informally in the playground.

The chaplaincy will be funded by the Commonwealth Government through our designated funding recipient Lutheran Education Queensland. The Commonwealth Government-funded hours will not be used for Christian life classes.

The chaplain will work in conjunction with the school’s Positive Behaviour Support Program.

The chaplain may also organise or help students and staff to organise fun, inclusive activities such as craft times and games during class breaks, with an emphasis on engaging children who may not easily make friends or who may be experiencing some emotional difficulties outside school.

BLPS Chaplaincy General Information and Details:

To access additional one-on-one services, parents, staff and students may contact the chaplain directly by phone, email, in writing or in person to make an appointment time to arrange any of these services. These details are available from the school newsletter, or on the website. Alternatively the school receptionist can take details and forward them on to the chaplain.

The BLPS P and C and Board consultation surveys will be conducted annually, and will review, assess and list areas of success of the service and note improvements needed for the coming year.

If any complaints arise regarding the chaplaincy service, please contact the chaplain first. If this does not have a satisfactory result, please consult the principal.

As specified in the chaplaincy agreement Attachment C, BLPS will acknowledge in all relevant places that the program is funded through DEEWR by the commonwealth government.

Code of Conduct

School chaplains and student welfare workers are responsible for supporting the spiritual, social, and emotional wellbeing of their students regardless of faith or beliefs. School chaplains/student welfare workers must be able to provide support for a range of day to day matters affecting the school community and communicate effectively with a diverse group of people. They can become involved in a wide variety of issues including health, social and values education and emotional support.

It is expected that school chaplains/student welfare workers would support and work with the School Principal and the school’s student wellbeing staff or equivalent, to refer students to appropriate services where required. To assist in facilitating this, school chaplains/student welfare workers should have or develop an appropriate and suitable external network of professional groups working within the community.

In providing these services, the school chaplain/student welfare worker must sign and observe this Code of Conduct at all times.

The school chaplain/student welfare worker must:

1. Adhere to all relevant Commonwealth, state or territory policy and legislation, including that concerning child safety, privacy, and confidentiality.
2. Not conduct themselves in a manner which impacts their delivery of the services under the Program. As such, school chaplains and student welfare workers must adhere to the Program Guidelines and the Code of Conduct at all times where conduct in a private capacity might impact their delivery of the services under the Program.
3. Recognise, respect and affirm the authority of the School Principal and/or school governing body, and work in consultation with them.
4. Contribute to a supportive, safe, inclusive and caring learning environment within the school.
5. Respect, accept and be sensitive to other people’s views, values and beliefs that may be different from his or her own, including respecting the rights of parents/guardians to ensure the moral and spiritual education of their children is in line with the family’s own convictions.
6. Actively discourage any form of harassment or discrimination on the grounds of religious ideology, beliefs or sexuality.
7. Not perform professional or other services for which they are not qualified and if not qualified, refer on to an appropriate service, in line with school protocols.
8. Refer a student to a service or organisation which is best placed to support the student’s particular needs in accordance with the student’s own beliefs and values.
9. Provide accurate and impartial information about the support and services available in the broader community, including community groups and religious groups.
10. Not put him or herself, or allow him or herself, to be placed in a compromising situation, recognising that there are circumstances where confidentiality may be sought by the student.
11. Avoid unnecessary physical contact with a student, recognising however that there may be some circumstances where physical contact may be appropriate such as where the student is injured or distraught.
12. While recognising that an individual school chaplain/student welfare worker may in good faith express views and articulate values consistent with his or her own beliefs, a school chaplain/student welfare worker must not take advantage of his or her privileged position to proselytise, evangelise or advocate for a particular belief or view.
13. Adhere to the Guidelines of the National School Chaplaincy and Student Welfare Program.

Joshua Jaeschke (Bethany Chaplain)

Hi! I’m the school chaplain at Bethany and the Youth Worker for Ipswich Lutheran Church. As chaplain, my role exists as a spiritual and emotional support to the school community. A key function of my role is to be a listening ear to students having a rough day and someone they can come to for support with making and keeping friends. You may find me in the school yard supporting students in lunchtime play or popping in to your classroom from time to time. Please come make yourself known, I’d love to meet you!