The Foundation round
We are looking for three schools to build this with.
Three schools will work with STEP as Foundation Partners, with partnerships commencing Term 2 2027. Your first year is half the list investment, you work directly with the founder throughout, and you help shape the resources as you use them. In return we ask for honest feedback, outcome data, and a case study if you go on to build. List pricing is shown beside every figure, so you can see exactly what the difference is.
Three places. Confirmed on a first-fit basis after a Fit Call. Conversations are underway with schools across the government and Catholic sectors.
The invitation
Built with schools, not just for them.
STEP is a new business built on practice that is not new. The model was designed and run inside real school wellbeing programs long before it was offered to one.
What happens next is better done with schools than for them. Three Foundation Partners work through the first year alongside us, shaping the resources as they use them and telling us honestly what holds up in a real school and what does not.
In return, your first year is half the list investment, you work directly with the founder throughout, and you keep network membership for as long as the network runs. It is a genuine partnership rather than a trial, and the obligations run both ways.
Worth knowing up front
You would be partnering with a young business, and a model that does not yet have published case studies behind it. That is the real trade, and it is why this runs as a partnership rather than a price cut.
The practice itself is well tested. STEP’s founder has designed and led school placement programs where waitlists fell to near zero and Tier 1 and Tier 2 work ran daily rather than weekly, and every one of those programs continued beyond its first year. What is new is STEP as the vehicle, not the practice inside it.
The partnership
What you receive, and what we ask in return.
Everything below is contractual. A Foundation place is an agreement, not an arrangement.
Your school receives
- 50% of list for Year 1, on your Wellbeing Capacity Review and on a Build partnership if you go on to one
- The founder as named lead for the full term
- Genuine influence over STEP resources. Co-design input on the artefacts, not a feedback form
- Lifetime STEP Network membership
- Year 2 Operating locked at Year 1 rates, so indexation does not apply until Year 3
- What it does not cover. Supervising Well, Practice Partnerships and the Wellbeing Leaders Program are at list. Foundation terms apply to the Review and the Build
What we ask of you
- Termly evaluation input
- Outcome data from your placement and wellbeing capacity
- One written case study, with named attribution
- Two reference calls with prospective schools
- Resource co-design input
Nothing here requires you to identify students, and nothing is published without your written agreement. See the Privacy and Confidentiality Statement.
What it costs
Half of list, in the first year.
A worked example at Guide level, which is the ceiling for a Foundation place.
All ex GST. Stage One still applies: the Review carries across in full to a Build commenced within twelve months, so the figures above are the total for Year 1, not two separate payments of the same money. Year 2 returns to full list, with Operating held at Year 1 rates.
The Guide ceiling
A Foundation place tops out at Guide. Embed-level schools pay full price, or wait for a standard place.
Three schools at Guide is what STEP can deliver properly across a year. Four at Embed is not, and discovering that in Term 3 with four schools mid-implementation would be the worst possible outcome for a business whose entire promise is sustainable capacity. The ceiling is the thing that makes the offer survivable, which is why it is not negotiable.
The window
Applications stay open until the three places fill. Partnerships commence Term 2 2027, and the round closes at commencement regardless of take-up.
A fixed date rather than a countdown. There is no manufactured scarcity here, and no rate that quietly extends.
Fit
Is a Foundation place right for your school?
A good fit
- An existing wellbeing team, and a senior leader who owns wellbeing rather than just supporting it
- Genuinely ready to change how wellbeing work is structured, not just add a program
- Comfortable being named publicly, and able to share de-identified outcome data
- Willing to give termly evaluation input and take two reference calls
Not a good fit
- A school without a wellbeing team. STEP builds on one, it is not a substitute for having one
- A school that needs Embed-level support. The place caps at Guide for delivery reasons
- A school that would rather not be named or share data. That is completely reasonable, and it means a standard place suits you better
- A school mainly after a lower price. The commitments here are real, and they are written into the agreement
How to apply
Start with a conversation.
A free fifteen-minute Fit Call. If the fit looks right on both sides, STEP sends the Foundation terms in writing before anything is agreed. Places are confirmed on a first-fit basis, not first-in.
or email lachlan@stepwellbeing.com.au
The terms, in one place