Statement of Commitment to Child Safety
We want children to be safe, happy and empowered. We support and respect all children, as well as our staff, volunteers and the parent community.
We are committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, to the cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability.
We have zero-tolerance for child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously.
We have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously.
Any staff member who believes that a child is at immediate risk of abuse must phone 000.
Our school is committed to preventing child abuse and identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.
Our school human resources and recruitment practices for all staff and volunteers are within DET requirements and practices.
Our school is committed to regularly training and educating our staff and volunteers on child abuse risks.
We have specific policies, procedures and training in place that support our leadership team, staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments in a consistent manner.
The school’s Child Safe policy will be publicly available to help raise awareness about the importance of child safety in our organisation and demonstrate our commitment to protecting children from abuse. It will be published on the school’s website and provided to new families on enrolment.
New staff will be provided with a copy and briefed on the school’s attitude to child safety as part of the induction process.
We will ensure that families and children have the opportunity to contribute to the development and review of this policy. Where possible we do our best to work with local Aboriginal communities, culturally and/or linguistically diverse communities and people with a disability.
MINISTERIAL ORDER No. 870
To create and maintain a child safe organisation, Wyndham Vale Primary School will be implementing, reviewing and improving each of the standards as below:
STANDARD 1: Strategies to embed an organisational culture of child safety, including through effective leadership arrangements.
STANDARD 2: Develop, implement and review a child safe policy or statement of commitment to child safety.
STANDARD 3: Review the current code of conduct so that it establishes clear expectations for appropriate behaviour with children.
STANDARD 4: Implement appropriate screening, supervision, training and other human resources practices that reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing personnel.
STANDARD 5: Continue to develop and implement processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse in line with DET.
STANDARD 6: Implement recommended strategies to identify and reduce or remove risks of child abuse.
STANDARD 7: Further develop strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of children.
For further information, please view the documents below: