The school counseling program at OB Gates Elementary School is designed to assist your child in making the most of his or her educational experiences. As your child’s counselors, we are concerned about his or her emotional well-being, academic progress, and personal and social development. Because there are so many situations that interfere with a child’s learning process, we are here to help students work through those issues. We provide students with early interventions as well as preventative strategies so that ALL students can do their individual best EVERY day.

What does a school counselor do?

The role of the elementary counselor is to guide, advise, recommend, consult, and assist with the near limitless variety of concerns that students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the community at large may have. Specifically, the thrust of the counseling program is defined by three major goals:

To assist students with personal and academic concerns such as coping with stress, learning to study, and behaving appropriately in class.

To help students develop educational and career decision-making skills including knowing how to make decisions, developing individual interests and abilities, and learning about jobs and careers.

To aid students in developing interpersonal skills such as resolving conflicts.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Implement the elementary school counseling curriculum;

• Guide individuals and groups of students through the development of educational, personal, social and career plans;

• Counsel individuals and small groups of children toward social and emotional growth;

• Consult with teachers, parents and staff regarding children’s needs;

• Refer children with problems and their parents to special programs, specialists and outside agencies;

• Participate in, coordinate and conduct activities that contribute to the effective operation of the counseling program and school;

• Participate in and facilitate the intervention team process;

• Plan and evaluate the counseling program;

• Pursue continuous professional growth.

As school counselors at OB Gates Elementary School, we will:

advocate for every child’s academic and social best interests; be available to all students on an as-needed, short-term individual basis, conduct small groups that focus on prevention and skill refinement, and teach classroom guidance lessons that address social/emotional, academic, and career development; work with all major stakeholders in students lives to provide a proactive, comprehensive school counseling program that is in accordance with the goals and competencies set forth by the state of Virginia, the Virginia School Counselor Association and the American School Counselor Association’s National Model; and consistently assess the needs of the school community and use that data to actively drive the counseling program.