Child Safe Standards
At this week’s School Council meeting I presented the work that our school has been carrying out to ensure that we are compliant with the seven Child Safe Standards, as directed by Ministerial Order 870.
Throughout next year this important work will be communicated to parents via the school newsletter. The Child Safe Standards are compulsory minimum standards for all Victorian schools to ensure they are well prepared to protect children from abuse and neglect.
Standard One: Strategies to embed an organisational culture of child safety
To meet this standard the school has:
- Developed an Action Plan to put strategies in place to exceed the minimum standards.
- Updated its School Philosophy to demonstrate our commitment to providing a child safe environment.
- Created the role of a Child Safety Officer (Paul Wallace). The roles of this position include:
- Acting as a source of support, advice and expertise to staff on matters of child safety.
- Liaising with the principal and school leaders to maintain the visibility of child safety.
- Lead the development of the school’s child safety culture, including being a child safety champion and providing coordination in communicating, implementing, monitoring, enhancing and reporting on strategies to embed a culture of child safety.
Standard Two: A Child Safe Policy or Statement of Commitment to Child Safety
To meet this standard the school has:
- Created a Statement of Commitment to Child Safety.
Standard Three: A Code of Conduct that establishes clear expectations for appropriate behaviour with children
To meet this standard the school has:
- Developed a Code of Conduct.
Standard Four: Screening, supervision, training and other human resource practices that reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing personnel
To meet this standard the school has:
- Defined the screening, supervision and training practices within the school.
Standard Five: Processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse
To meet this standard the school has:
- Defined the school’s process to responding and reporting suspected child abuse (information about this process will be included in future newsletters).
Standard Six: Strategies to identify and reduce or remove risks of child abuse
To meet this standard the school has:
- Developed a risk assessment to identify and reduce or remove risks of child abuse.
Standard Seven: Strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of children
To meet this standard the school has:
- Developed strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of children (information about this process will be included in future newsletters).
Foundation Orientation
As part of the Foundation Orientation program, we welcomed students and their families to visit the Foundation Area for an open afternoon on Thursday. This was very well attended and was a great opportunity for new families to meet each other and for the students to participate in some Foundation activities.
We look forward to parent information session next Tuesday evening (6pm) and our final orientation session next Wednesday.