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Child safety

Officer Secondary College is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all students at the school.

Background:

On 26 November 2015, the Victorian Parliament passed the Child Wellbeing and Safety Amendment (Child Safe Standards) Bill 2015 to introduce child safe standards into law. The standards will commence from 1 January 2016 for most organisations working with children, with the aim of promoting cultural change in the way organisations manage the risk of child abuse and neglect.

The child safe standards are part of the Victorian Government’s response to the Betrayal of Trust Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations. The Betrayal of Trust Report found that while the majority of children are safe in organisations and in the community, more work could be done to strengthen existing approaches to child safety.

The child safe standards aim to drive cultural change in organisations that provide services for children so that protecting children from abuse is embedded in everyday thinking and practice.

Policy

Officer Secondary College implements the Child Safe Standards to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all students at the College and promote an organisational culture that manages the risk of child abuse and neglect.
Our School has developed policies and procedures that aim to keep children safe. The standards will provide a framework to identify gaps and improve policy and practices around child safety.

Please see the Officer Secondary College Child Safe Policy here

The Child Safe Standards

To create and maintain a child safe organisation, an entity to which the standards apply must have:

Standard 1:

Strategies to embed an organisational culture of child safety, including through effective leadership arrangements (See Appendix 1)

Standard 2:

A child safe policy or statement of commitment to child safety (See Appendix 2 Our Commitment to Child Safety)

Standard 3:

A code of conduct that establishes clear expectations for appropriate behaviour with children (see Appendix 3)

Standard 4:

Screening, supervision, training and other human resources practices that reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing personnel (See VIT and Working with Children Policies)

Standard 5:

Processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse (DET Mandatory Reporting policy which can be found at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/safety/Pages/childprotection.aspx)

Standard 6:

Strategies to identify and reduce or remove risks of child abuse (Appendix 4)

Standard 7:

Strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of children (See Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy)