Student Resource Package – Targeted Initiatives

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, Ballarat City Council
• 2026: Bayside Peninsula, Central Highlands, Inner Eastern Melbourne, North Eastern Melbourne

*Government and low fee non-government schools in the Ballarat City Council Local Government Area (LGA) have been invited to join the MHiPS initiative one year early to align with the Ballarat Community Saturation Model.

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

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.

Ballarat City Council LGA schools that receive PWO funding and have opted to participate MHiPS in 2025, will receive both MHiPS funding and PWO funding in 2025. In 2026, Ballarat City Council schools will transition from the PWO initiative to MHiPS as described above.

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