Chaplain to give guidance

CRANBOURNE students may soon be turning to a school chaplain for guidance and advice if a proposal by a local federal MP is implemented.
Flinders MP Greg Hunt raised the issue in Federal Parliament last week and said the program would be of great benefit to students, staff and the wider Cranbourne community.
“With the consent of the community, I would very strongly support a chaplain for any of the Cranbourne schools if they wanted one,” Mr Hunt said.
Under the proposal, chaplains would work in primary and secondary schools and provide assistance in many areas, including the mentoring and counselling of students.
According to the Council for Christian Education in Schools (CCES), chaplains are currently operating at Frankston, Dandenong, Berwick and Warragul High schools with great success.
A CCES spokeswoman said there was a chaplain at Cranbourne Secondary College, but the school no longer employs one.
Mr Hunt said the chaplaincy program was also running in a number of other schools in his electorate, including Rosebud and Dromana Secondary Colleges. – Callan Date