Providing a school chaplain is just one of the ways Mullaley Public School is trying to provide support for its students.
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Principal Ben Carter spoke to NVI about the school's well-being program after attending the New England North West Education Forum in Armidale last week, which reiterated that students need to be "the centre of our focus".
Mr Carter said the forum gave school leaders "an opportunity to discuss issues and get reassurance that what we're doing for our students [is right] and that we are on the right track".
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Mulaley's well-being program is key in the ongoing drought conditions, with many students from farming families doing it tough.
"We provide a green space in which they can come away and look at something outside other than the brown," Mr Carter said.
"This is a safe space and we've structured it so they know everything is the same. And it's now more important than it has ever been."
Chaplain Sandy Clark is at the school three days a week, but Mr Carter said it would be great "if we could have her here every day, permanently".
"Sometimes [students] don't always feel comfortable talking to teachers or Mum and Dad, so it's an intermediate person they can talk to," he said.
"A lot of students have been engaging [with Sandy] and welcomed it."
Fellow principal Cathie McMaster also attended the forum and said student well-being was key at Gunnedah Public School this year.
"[The] school is going through a transformational change and there is a clear focus on student learning and well-being, with staff, students, parents and school community members all a part of this change," she said.
"From the forum came clarity for me that we are on the right trajectory and we all need to keep focusing on students as a whole."
At Gunnedah South Public School, care for students will mean the potential for "affordable" before- and after-school care service.
"It's good for us, it's good for the kids in my school and it certainly ensures that opportunity for rural communities are now coming through, and that's a positive thing," principal Peter Baum said.
"This is an exciting opportunity for our school community and I strongly encourage all parents (even future parents) who would like to utilise either a daily, weekly or school holiday program for their children to consider registering your interest through Services NSW when it becomes available on July 1."
