Academics
Every Falcon Seen. Every Falcon Supported. Every Falcon Valued.
At American World School Chennai, our counselling programme is built on a simple but profound conviction: a student who feels known, safe, and genuinely supported is a student who is capable of extraordinary things. And a student who is struggling — emotionally, socially, or personally — cannot reach their potential no matter how strong the curriculum around them is.
That is why counselling at AWS is not a service you seek out when something goes wrong. It is a proactive, ongoing, and deeply human presence woven into the daily life of every Falcon — from Kindergarten through to graduation.
“Whether you are navigating personal challenges, finding your footing in a new environment, working through academic transitions, or simply looking for someone to talk to — our counsellors are here. Not just available. Here.”
The AWS counselling model is built on collaboration — between counsellors, teachers, Success Coaches, families, and the students themselves. No one in this community supports a child alone, and no child in this community is left to navigate their journey without the right people beside them.
Our counsellors believe that:
Student wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do at AWS — not an add-on, not an afterthought, but the foundation.
Every Falcon deserves a genuine sense of belonging and connection — in their classroom, their school, and their global community.
Every student is capable of growth and change — and our role is to create the conditions in which that growth can happen.
Student success is individually defined — shaped by each student’s unique strengths, story, and aspirations.
Diversity in all its forms is a source of richness, not complexity — and every student’s cultural identity, background, and lived experience deserves to be seen and honoured.
The relationship between home and school must be collaborative, honest, and ongoing — because the best outcomes for students happen when families and educators are genuinely working together.
In Elementary School, our counsellors are a warm and familiar presence in every student’s school life. For new Falcons joining AWS, counsellors are among the first people they meet — welcoming students and families, conducting introductory conversations to help teachers understand each new child, and following up to ensure every student settles in with confidence and ease.
Throughout Elementary, counsellors co-teach classroom sessions on themes including personal safety, healthy relationships, navigating friendships, and building resilience. These lessons are age-appropriate, engaging, and grounded in the social-emotional skills that research shows are foundational to long-term academic and personal success.
Where students need additional support, counsellors facilitate small group sessions — identified through observation, teacher consultation, and student self-referral — providing a safe, contained space for children to build skills and process experiences alongside peers who understand what they are going through.
One-to-one meetings are available whenever a student or family needs them. No concern is too small to bring to our counsellors, and no door is ever closed.
Middle School is one of the most significant and complex periods of a young person’s life — a time of rapid academic growth, deepening self-discovery, evolving friendships, and profound personal change. At AWS, our Middle School counsellors are specialists in this stage — experienced, empathetic, and deeply committed to walking alongside every student through it.
Our Middle School counsellors stay with the same cohort of students across multiple years — building the kind of deep, trusting relationships that allow them to truly know each student and respond meaningfully to their individual needs as they evolve.
Counsellors are accessible through drop-in visits, email appointments, teacher referrals, and self-referral — and they are visible and present in the daily life of the school. They are not office-bound professionals waiting to be sought out. They are active members of the school community, present in corridors, classrooms, and common spaces, building relationships long before they are needed for support.
The move into Middle School — and later, the move out of it — can be one of the most anxiety-inducing moments in a student’s school journey. AWS Middle School counsellors work closely with colleagues across divisions to ensure these transitions are smooth, well-supported, and handled with genuine care. New students are connected with peer ambassadors, families are kept informed, and no student makes the journey alone.
In High School, counselling at AWS operates across three interconnected domains: academic and personal support, planning for life beyond AWS, and emotional and mental health wellbeing. Our High School counsellors work proactively and individually with every student — not reactively, and not only at moments of crisis.
Like their Middle School colleagues, High School counsellors stay with the same students across multiple year groups — ensuring that the relationship deepens over time and that every student is genuinely known, not just assigned to a counsellor they see once a term.
Counsellors guide students through course selection, help them build effective study habits, introduce time management strategies, and consult regularly with teachers to ensure that academic challenges are identified and addressed early. When a student is struggling, counsellors do not wait to be told — they notice, and they act.
High School is where the future begins to feel real — and our counsellors help students navigate that reality with clarity and confidence. Working closely with our University Counselling team, they support students in developing four-year plans, exploring their post-graduation options, and building the self-knowledge they need to make genuinely informed choices about their next chapter. This includes students pursuing university, entrepreneurship, vocational pathways, or any other form of purposeful next step.
Through individual sessions, group programmes, and family meetings, our High School counsellors support students across the full spectrum of personal and emotional wellbeing — from managing exam pressure and navigating peer relationships to processing major life transitions and supporting mental health. Every student’s experience is different. Every student’s support is personalised accordingly.
One of the most significant decisions a High School student makes is choosing their subjects — the courses that will shape their academic identity, determine their university options, and influence the trajectory of their career and life.
Too often, students make this decision based on what their friends are choosing, what their parents expect, or what they think sounds impressive. At AWS, we believe every student deserves something better: a decision grounded in genuine self-knowledge.
That is why we partner with Bodhi to offer every eligible AWS student access to a comprehensive psychometric assessment — a scientifically validated tool that helps students understand themselves with a depth and clarity that conversation alone rarely achieves.
The Bodhi psychometric assessment evaluates a student across multiple dimensions:
Understanding where a student’s natural abilities lie — across verbal, numerical, spatial, logical, and creative domains — helps them identify subjects where they are likely to excel and find genuine satisfaction.
How a student engages with the world, processes information, and interacts with others has a profound effect on which subjects and environments will bring out their best. The Bodhi assessment surfaces these insights in ways that feel genuinely recognisable and useful.
Knowing what a student is naturally drawn to — what lights them up, what sustains their attention, what they return to by choice — is one of the most reliable predictors of long-term academic engagement and career fulfilment.
The assessment maps a student’s profile against a wide range of career pathways and university disciplines — not to prescribe a future, but to illuminate possibilities that the student may not yet have considered, and to help them see how their subject choices connect to the lives they want to build.
The Bodhi psychometric assessment is conducted with every student at the appropriate stage of their High School journey — typically as they approach subject selection decisions. The process is straightforward, professionally administered, and followed by a dedicated debrief session with the student’s counsellor.
In that debrief, counsellors and students work through the results together — exploring what the data reveals, connecting it to the student’s own sense of themselves, and using the insights to inform a subject selection conversation that is genuinely personalised and evidence-based.
Families are invited to participate in this process. We believe parents play a vital role in helping students interpret and act on self-knowledge — and the Bodhi assessment gives families a shared, objective foundation for what can otherwise be one of the most emotionally charged conversations in a teenager’s school life.
Subject selection is not just an academic exercise. It is one of the earliest moments in which a young person begins to make meaningful choices about who they are and who they want to become. At AWS, we take that seriously — and we give our students the tools to take it seriously too.
The Bodhi psychometric assessment does not tell students what to choose. It helps them understand themselves well enough to choose wisely.
In addition to our counselling team, AWS provides access to psychological support services for students who require a deeper level of assessment, intervention, or specialist care.
Our psychologists work alongside counsellors, teachers, Success Coaches, and families to identify effective ways to support students’ learning, behaviour, interpersonal relationships, and mental health. They serve as an important bridge between the school and specialist mental health providers in the wider community — ensuring that when a student needs support beyond what the school can provide, they are connected to the right professionals without delay.
AWS psychologists promote wellness and resilience through their work with students, staff, and families — encouraging positive communication, collaborative problem-solving, tolerance, and empathy across our entire school community.
Each division has access to dedicated psychological support, and these services are available to all AWS students and families — in person at our Chennai campus and virtually for our online and hybrid community.
Supporting a child’s wellbeing is something no parent has to do alone — and at AWS, we actively invest in equipping families with knowledge, tools, and community.
Throughout the year, our counselling and psychology team offers a range of parent education events and workshops — covering topics such as supporting your child through academic pressure, building emotional resilience at home, navigating adolescence with confidence, understanding the teenage brain, online safety and digital wellbeing, and how to have the conversations that matter most.
These events are open to all AWS families — in person in Chennai and virtually for families in our global locations. We believe that when parents and school are genuinely aligned in their approach to a child’s wellbeing, the impact on that child is transformative.
Upcoming parent education events will be listed on the AWS school calendar.
Wellbeing support at AWS is not limited to students who walk through our Chennai campus doors. Every AWS student — regardless of learning mode or location — has access to our full counselling and psychological support services.
Online and hybrid students are connected to our counselling team through scheduled virtual sessions, regular Success Coach check-ins, and our online school community platform. We actively monitor the wellbeing of students learning remotely and reach out proactively — because distance should never mean invisibility.
For families in our global locations, counsellors are available via video call, email, and our online portal. Time zones are noted and accommodated. No student is too far away to be supported.
Reaching our counsellors should feel easy — because waiting until a concern becomes a crisis is never the goal. We encourage students, families, and staff to connect with us early and often.
Speak to your Success Coach, visit the counselling office in person, or send an email to arrange a time to talk. You do not need a reason that feels big enough. Any reason is enough.
Contact your child’s counsellor directly or reach out to our Student Wellbeing team at counselling@aws.edu. We welcome every conversation and will always respond promptly and with care.
All counselling services are available virtually. Contact us by email to arrange a video session at a time that works for your time zone.
If you are concerned about a student’s immediate safety or mental health, please contact AWS directly without delay. We take every concern seriously and respond swiftly, with the student’s wellbeing as our only priority.
Overall leadership of counselling and psychological services across all divisions and learning modes
Social-emotional learning, new student transition, and individual support for K–Elementary students
Academic, social, and personal support for Middle School students across their three-year journey
Academic planning, personal support, and transition guidance for High School students
Assessment, specialist intervention, learning support planning, and community mental health
Subject selection support, university pathway planning, and post-graduation guidance for High School students
Individual team profiles and contact details available on our Meet Our Team page →
