What Does a School Chaplain Do?
A school chaplain is a safe person for young people to connect with at school and provides a listening ear, caring presence, and a message of hope. Chaplains run positive, fun activities for students and assist in fostering supportive, caring school communities.
Working with other members of the school's support team, the chaplain cares for students struggling with issues such as difficult relationships with other children or family members, poor self-esteem, family breakdown, and many others.
The partnership between the school and the chaplaincy service, along with the Community Hub provides families with access to assistance in many different areas. These positive relationships help young people to face difficult issues, and provide hope, connection, meaning, and purpose.
The chaplaincy service is available to everyone in the school community regardless of their religious beliefs.
Who is the School Chaplain?
Hello, my name is Amy Foote and I'm the Kruger State School Chaplain. I came on board at the beginning of 2021 and have loved getting to know the students and staff here at Kruger. I am excited to further foster healthy relationships that will impact students' lives in a positive way. I'm passionate about seeing young people learn about their identity and supporting them to become the best version of themselves. I am currently studying my final subjects of my Bachelor Degree in Ministry with a focus on Chaplaincy at Alphacrucis College and intern at Youth Alive (Australia's largest Christian youth movement) in which I have run large teams at national large-scale events and smaller local events. In my free time I volunteer in my church's youth ministry supporting high school aged students on Friday nights and am part of the creative team at church on a Sunday. Religion is by no means my primary focus when it comes to being a Chaplain, simply supporting young people in whichever way they need.
My primary goal as a chaplain is to support children and families regardless of what this looks like or how it presents. This could range from helping children in class, group work, spending time with them in the playground, one on one chats and all things in between. The research shows that the generation coming through craves authentic relationships, this kind of atmosphere and community being of upmost importance to provide students with. In order to become the best versions of ourselves we need to learn how to overcome obstacles and bounce-back from setbacks; this is something that I am excited to help the students with. I am also passionate about emotionally and practically supporting the older students of the school as they make the transition out of primary schooling and into high school and raising up younger students to be the best role models they can be as they grow.
If you would like to get in contact with the Chaplain to discuss support or programs your student could potentially be involved in, please email afoot39@eq.edu.au