Mental Health in Primary Schools (Reference 130)
The Victorian Government is providing $200 million over 4 years and $93.7 million ongoing to expand the Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHiPS) initiative to every government and low-fee non-government primary school in Victoria.
Scaling up across the state from 2023, by 2026 every primary school will receive funding to employ a Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader to implement a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing.
Eligibility
All government school campuses with primary-aged enrolments are eligible for MHiPS funding, including:
- Primary
- Primary/Secondary (primary enrolments only)
- Specialist (primary enrolments only)
- Language (primary enrolments only)
‘Secondary’ and ‘Camp’ schools and campuses are ineligible for MHiPS funding.
MHiPS will be implemented in all government and low-fee non-government schools based on area between 2023 and 2026. The schedule is:
- 2023: Barwon, Brimbank Melton, Goulburn, Hume Merri-bek, Outer Gippsland
- 2024: Mallee, Ovens Murray, Southern Melbourne, Western Melbourne
- 2025: Inner Gippsland; Loddon Campaspe, Outer Eastern Melbourne, Wimmera South West
- 2026: Bayside Peninsula, Central Highlands, Inner Eastern Melbourne, North Eastern Melbourne
All MHiPS Pilot schools will continue participation in the statewide program from 2023. The pilot has now concluded.
Funding is calculated at the Indicative, Confirmed and Revised cycles; funding is allocated through credit funding.
Calculation
Participating government school campuses receive funding at the Classroom Teacher 2 salary mid-point, plus on costs, to employ a Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader. Each government school campus’ Full Time Equivalent (FTE) varies between 0.5 FTE to 1.0 FTE, based on primary enrolments.
Funding allocation = Base FTE × Rate + School on-costs
Campus enrolments | FTE |
---|---|
1 to 199 | 0.4 |
200 to 499 | 0.5 |
500 to 699 | 0.6 |
700 to 849 | 0.7 |
850 to 949 | 0.8 |
950+ | 1 |
Enrolments used to calculate MHiPS funding will be updated at each SRP cycle (‘Indicative’ to reflect principal enrolment projections, ‘Confirmed’ to reflect February census enrolment and ‘Revised’ to reflect audited enrolments). Funding is allocated through credit funding.
Rate
Rate = $123,520.25 including school on-costs (Classroom Teacher 2 mid-point).
Schools that received Primary Welfare Officer (PWO) funding in the year prior to transitioning to MHiPS
The PWO initiative is transitioning to MHiPS from 2023.
Schools transitioning from the PWO initiative to MHiPS, in line with the above area implementation schedule, will receive the higher of either their PWO allocation in the year prior to transitioning to MHiPS or their 2024 MHiPS allocation as calculated above.
This will appear under the MHiPS funding line in the SRP.
Schools that participated in the Mental Health in Primary Schools Pilot
Former government pilot schools will transition from their pilot funding allocation to the MHiPS statewide expansion funding model, in line with other schools participating in the program.
In 2025, former Pilot schools will receive the higher of either MHiPS funding based on enrolments, or 2022 PWO funding (with indexation). This will appear under the MHiPS funding line.
Contact information
For further information contact mentalhealth@education.vic.gov.au
Reviewed 31 December 2024