Ten registered nurses will support primary and secondary schools throughout the state from term three and were officially welcomed to their new positions on Friday.

Having spent the past year consulting with stakeholders, the state government has committed $5.8 million to the School Health Nurse Program with the expectation of expanding this to 20 full-time equivalent positions by 2017.

In primary schools, nurses will focus on vision, hearing and developmental checks and nutrition.

In secondary schools a larger focus will be on mental health and well-being, body image and healthy relationships.

Three nurses in the North, three in the North-West and four in the South will collaborate with support staff, including psychologists, speech pathologists and autism consultants.

Director of nursing Anthony Millward said this was a fantastic opportunity.

"We're trying to provide children with the optimum capacity to learn so instead of a negative cycle we're trying to create positive cycles," Mr Millward said.

"These children learn, they then get good jobs, they get good income and they then teach their children the same values."

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said that after decades without school nurses, this was a significant milestone for the state.

"This is a wonderful initiative, this is an initiative that will, I believe, be a real game changer when it comes to childhood education," Mr Rockliff said.

"It's an increasingly complex world for our kids and this is where school health nurses will be of enormous benefit to deal with and tackle the issues of the day with the students directly."