Meet the School Counsellor! 

                                           Contact: mrudo@moed.bm  / (441) 478-3304   

Hi Everyone! My name is Mr. Menelik Rudo and I am proud to announce that I am Victor Scott's school counsellor. My role is to promote academic achievement for all students.  Below outlines the services that I offer:

Guidance Lessons:  Guidance lessons are an integral part of the primary school counselling program and important to every student’s academic success. One of the most effective ways for school counsellors to help prevent academic problems is by discussing issues such as peer relationships, decision making, stress, or dealing with feelings and emotions in large group guidance lessons in the classroom. The lessons are preventative in nature, designed to reach all students, and are taught in the classroom regularly by the school counsellor. 

Individual Counselling:  Primary school counsellors are available to meet individually with a student in circumstances when a student's educational success is being impacted. The school counsellor spends time working with individual students to improve their social skills, discuss feelings, and to empower problem solving methods. Primary school counsellors assist ALL children. While a counselor cannot provide on-going counselling, it may be appropriate for a student to receive short-term individual counselling. When more attention and intervention is required, school counsellors can act as a referral agent for parents to access counselling services within the community.

Small Group Counselling: The purpose of small group counselling is to complement and enhance students' learning by improving their perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. Small group counselling provides a safe setting where children, along with their peers, can increase their self-awareness and improve their cooperation and communication skills. The children can learn from each other. Ultimately the goal of small group counselling is to prevent problems in the future by teaching children new skills. Every child can benefit from participation in a small group. Students can be invited to join a group by parent request, teacher or counsellor suggestion, or by the students themselves. 

Individual Planning: Each Primary 5 student is expected to meet with their school counsellor and parents to develop a career plan for their life after high school. During this meeting, topics will be discussed such as the relationship between school & the world of work, career interests, subjects that support career interests, extra-curricular activities that support career interests,  academic goals, strengths, etc. The information is kept inside a portfolio to be passed on to their receiving middle school where students will have another individual planning meeting. Due to the new Covid-19 restrictions, this meeting will have to be held on ZOOM or via a telephone conference where the child and school counsellor contact the parents. 

Collaborate with Teachers and Staff:  Both teachers and counselors have similar goals: the educational success of each student. It is important that school counsellors collaborate with teachers and administrators to promote student learning. If a student is having problems in a classroom, school counsellors will join together with teachers to come up with some practical strategies which will remove educational barriers and enhance the learning environment of that student. 

Consult with Parents:  Parents and school counsellors speak with each other to help the child on a variety of issues such as new school transitions, special needs, family transitions, and crisis situations. Studies have shown that children have greater academic achievement when their parents are involved in their education. Parental involvement is critical to helping a child be a successful student. Both parents and counsellor can share information with each other to help meet the needs of the student. Additionally, school counsellors can help put parents in touch with community resources, if the need arises. Parent presentations and workshops will be scheduled throughout the year so stay tuned!

Community Resources:  School counselors can provide short-term individual counselling for students, but when more intervention is required, they can coordinate referrals to community agencies such as The Family Centre, Child & Adolescent Services, Life Skills & Counselling, Solstice, etc. 

                                                                     Counselling Services Referral Protocol for both Parents and Teachers 

 Parents who would like their child to receive counselling services at school can fill out the following form and submit it back to school addressed to me:

Counselling Consent Form  

 Teachers who would like to refer a child to receive individual or group counselling services at school can fill out the following form and submit if back to me:  

Counselling Referral Form  

                                                 School Counsellor Newsletters 

Click the link below:

Meet the New School Counsellor Newsletter