The team is three counsellors and two learning support teachers for one thousand six hundred and forty children. That is not enough and it is more than most schools of this size have, and both halves of that sentence are true.
Learning support. Children whose reading is behind, who have missed long stretches, who have arrived mid year from a different syllabus, or who need a subject broken down more slowly than a class of thirty allows. Small groups, four periods a week. A child is referred by a form or subject teacher, assessed, and the family is told and shown the assessment before anything begins.
Counselling. A child may ask to see a counsellor themselves, and about a third of the team's work comes that way rather than by referral. A form teacher, a head of house or a parent may also refer.
What is confidential. What a child says to a counsellor stays with the counsellor, with one exception which is explained to every child in the first session: where a counsellor believes a child is at risk of harm, they will act and will tell the child they are doing so. That exception is stated plainly because a child who is not told the limits cannot give their trust honestly.
What the team does not do. Diagnose a specific learning difficulty or a medical condition. Where an assessment beyond the school is needed, the team says so and helps a family arrange it, and it will not offer a label it is not qualified to give.