Child Safety Policy
This Child Safety Policy implements the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
The Child Safety Policy is published on our College's public website and provided to new Staff, and to Direct Contact Volunteers and Direct Contact Contractors at induction. It is also communicated through other mediums such as newsletters and orientation/induction packs for Council Members, staff members, including boarding staff, and Direct Contact Volunteers.
This Child Safety Policy comprises the following sections:
- Purpose
- Scope
- Statement of Commitment to Child Safety and Wellbeing
- Children and Young People's Rights to Safety, Information and Participation
- Parents/Carers, Families and Community Involvement at the College
- Valuing Diversity in the College Community
- Our Child Safety Program
- Reporting Child Safety Incidents or Concerns to the College
- Responsibilities for Child Safety at the College
- Child Safety Human Resources Management
- Child Safety Risk Management
- Record Keeping
- Policy and Program Review
- Non-Compliance with Our Child Safety Policy
1. Purpose
Our Child Safety Policy was written to demonstrate the strong commitment of the College to child safety, and to provide an outline of the policies and practices that we have developed to keep our students safe, including from abuse or other harm.
This is an overarching policy that provides the key elements of our approach to the College as a child safe organisation and sets the tone for the College's entire Child Safety Program.
This Child Safety Policy provides the framework for:
- the implementation of the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
- the development of work systems, practices, policies and procedures that promote child protection, safety and wellbeing within the College
- the creation of a safe and supportive College environment and a positive and robust child safe culture
- the promotion and open discussion of child safety issues within the College and
- compliance with all laws, regulations and standards relevant to child protection and child safety in Western Australia.
2. Scope
The College's Child Safety Policy applies to all adults in the College community, including Staff, Volunteers, Contractors, External Education Providers, parents/guardians and other family members . This policy applies in all College environments, both physical and online, and on-site and off-site College grounds (e.g. camps and excursions).
3. Statement of Commitment to Child Safety and Wellbeing
All children and young people who come to Scotch College have a right to feel and be safe. We are committed to providing a child safe and child friendly environment, where children and young people are safe and feel safe, and are able to actively participate in decisions that affect their lives.
We have a zero tolerance for child abuse and other harm and are committed to acting in students' best interests and keeping them safe from harm.
The College regards its child safe responsibilities with the utmost importance and as such, is committed to providing the necessary resources to ensure compliance with all relevant child protection laws and regulations and maintaining a child safe culture.
Each member of the College community has a responsibility to understand the important and specific role that they play individually and collectively to ensure that the wellbeing and safety of all students is at the forefront of all that they do and every decision that they make.
The College's Statement of Commitment to Child Safety has been designed to reflect the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
4. Children and Young People's Rights to Safety, Information and Participation
Scotch College is a child safe and child-centred organisation. Our environment is friendly and welcoming to all children and young people.
We actively seek to include students in decisions that affect them. This includes decisions about organisational planning, delivery of services, management of facilities, and classroom learning and assessment environments.
We ensure students know about their rights to safety, information and participation. We recognise the importance of friendships and support from peers. We actively seek to understand what makes students feel safe in our organisation and regularly communicate with students about what they can do if they feel unsafe.
5. Parents/Carers, Families and Community Involvement at the College
The College recognises that parents and carers have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of their children. We ensure they participate in decisions affecting their children.
We ensure families and relevant communities know about the College's operations and policies, including its Child Safety Policy and Child Safety Code of Conduct, record keeping practices, risk management, and complaints and investigation processes.
We actively seek to include families and relevant communities in decisions about organisational planning, delivery of services, management of facilities, and classroom learning and assessment environments.
We build cultural safety at the College through partnerships with relevant communities.
6. Valuing Diversity in the College Community
Our College values diversity and does not tolerate any discriminatory practices. To achieve this, we:
- support the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families
- support the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of students from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and their families
- welcome students with disability and their families and act to promote their participation
- welcome students and families of diverse sexuality and act to promote their participation
- seek to recruit a workforce that reflects a diversity of cultures, abilities and identities
- have a physical environment that actively celebrates diverse cultures and recognises cultural difference
- commit to ensuring our facilities promote the inclusion of students of all abilities.
7. Our Child Safety Program
Scotch College is committed to the effective implementation of our Child Safety Program and ensuring that it is appropriately reviewed and updated. We adopt a risk management approach by identifying key risk indicators and assessing child safety risks based on a range of factors including the nature of our College's activities, physical and online environments and the characteristics of the student body.
Our Child Safety Program relates to all aspects of protecting children from abuse, grooming and other harm and establishes work systems, practices, policies and procedures to protect children from abuse and to promote a child safe environment. It includes:
- a Child Safety Code of Conduct
- clear information as to what constitutes child abuse, grooming and other harm and associated key indicators of child abuse, grooming and other harm
- clear procedures for responding to and reporting child safety incidents or concerns internally, and for responding incidents or allegations of child abuse, grooming or other harm
- strategies to support, encourage and enable Staff, Volunteers, Third Party Contractors, External Education Providers, parents/guardians and students to understand, identify, discuss and report child safety matters
- procedures for recruiting and screening members of the Executive, Staff, Volunteers and Contractors
- procedures for reporting to external agencies, including Mandatory Reporting to CPFS and Reporting to Police
- pastoral care strategies designed to empower students and keep them safe
- strategies to support and encourage the participation and inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, students from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and students with disability
- child safe training
- information regarding the steps to take after a disclosure of abuse, grooming or other harm to protect, support and assist children
- guidelines with respect to record keeping and confidentiality
- policies to ensure compliance with all relevant laws, regulations and standards (including the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations)
- a system for continuous review and improvement.
As a part of Scotch College's induction process all Staff, as well as Regular Volunteers, are required to complete induction in our Child Safety Policies, practices and procedures. All Staff, as well as Regular Volunteers, also receive refresher and ongoing child safe training at least annually.
Staff and Regular Volunteers are supported and supervised by the College's Child Protection Officers and Executive to ensure that they are compliant with the College's approach to child safety.
8. Reporting Child Safety Incidents or Concerns to the College
Our Child Safety Program provides detailed guidance for Staff, Volunteers and Contractors on how to identify key indicators of child abuse, grooming and other harm and how to report child safety incidents or concerns internally at the College. It also contains detailed procedures with respect to the reporting of child safety incidents or concerns to relevant external authorities.
Students at the College are provided with information about and are encouraged to use multiple pathways to raise child safety incidents or concerns about or at the College. These include informal and formal ways, an 'anonymous' way, and through external child advocacy or child safety organisations.
Parents/guardians, family members and other community members who have child safety concerns or who suspect that a child or young person associated with the College may be subject to abuse, grooming or other harm can contact:
- the College's Senior Child Protection Officer, James Hindle, by phoning 08 9383 6835 or emailing james.hindle@scotch.wa.edu.au, or
- the Headmaster, by phoning 08 9383 6806 or emailing Headmaster@Scotch.wa.edu.au or, if the concern relates to the Headmaster, the Chair of the Council (Mark Paganin) by emailing ChairofCouncil@scotch.wa.edu.au
Students, parents/guardians, family members and other community members can also raise child safety incidents or concerns through the College's Complaints Handling Policy.
Any person can also contact the Senior Child Protection Officer, the Headmaster or the Chair of the Council (Mark Paganin) if they have concerns regarding the College's leadership in relation to child safety.
Communications will be treated confidentially on a "need to know basis".
Whenever there are concerns that a child or young person is in immediate danger the Police should be called on 000.
9. Responsibilities for Child Safety at the College
Child Safety is everyone's responsibility. All adults in the College community have a shared responsibility for contributing to the safety and protection of students. Specific responsibilities include:
The College's Child Protection Officers
A number of senior staff members are nominated as the College's Child Protection Officers. Our Child Protection Officers receive training with respect to child safety and protection issues. They are a point of contact for raising child safety concerns within the College. They are also responsible for championing child safety within the College and assisting in coordinating responses to child safety incidents.
Contact details for our Child Protection Officers are set out below:
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JUNIOR SCHOOL Maria Hodges Head of Junior School 08 9383 6950 Amanda Ritchie Deputy Head of Junior School 08 9383 6901 |
MIDDLE SCHOOL Brad Gill Head of Middle School 08 9383 6940 Pina Giglia Deputy Head of Middle School 08 9383 6942 |
SENIOR SCHOOL Peter Burt Head of Senior School 08 9383 6820 Gareth Williams Deputy Head of Senior School 08 9383 6929 |
BOARDING Jordan Owenell Head of Boarding 08 9383 6919 |
The Senior Child Protection Officer
Scotch College has also appointed James Hindle, Director of Student and Staff Wellbeing, as the College's Senior Child Protection Officer. The Senior Child Protection Officer is contactable by phone on 08 9383 6835 or by emailing james.hindle@scotch.wa.edu.au.
The Senior Child Protection Officer has additional child safe responsibilities, such as being a first point of contact for all child safety concerns or queries for the wider community and coordinating the College's response to child safety incidents in consultation with the Headmaster, the Executive and the Council.
Council
The Council is responsible for endorsing our Child Safety Program and ensuring that the College has appropriate resources to effectively implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and our Child Safety Program.
The Headmaster
The Headmaster is responsible, and will be accountable for, the operational management of the College, and the Child Safety Program. The Headmaster is responsible for taking all practical measures to ensure that this Child Safety Policy and the College's Child Safety Program is implemented effectively and that a strong and sustainable child safe culture is maintained within the College. The Headmaster will ensure that the Council is kept abreast of updates to the College's Child Safety Program.
The College Executive
Each member of the College Executive is required to ensure that appropriate resources are made available in their area of operations to allow the College's Child Safety Program to be effectively implemented within the College, and to support the Headmaster in the practical application of the College's child safe strategies, policies, procedures and work systems.
Staff Members
All Staff are required to comply with our Child Safety Policy and Child Safety Code of Conduct, be familiar with our Child Safety Program and understand their legal obligations with respect to the reporting of child abuse, grooming and other harm, and Working with Children Checks. It is each individual's responsibility to be aware of key indicators of abuse, grooming and other harm, to be observant, and to raise all child safety incidents and concerns with one of the College's Child Protection Officers.
Volunteers
All Volunteers at the College are responsible for contributing to the safety and protection of students in the College environment.
All Direct Contact and Regular Volunteers are required to comply with our Child Safety Policy and Child Safety Code of Conduct and understand their legal obligations with respect to the reporting of child abuse, grooming and other harm.
It is each individual's responsibility to be aware of key indicators of child abuse, grooming and other harm, to be observant, and to raise all child safety concerns with one of the College's Child Protection Officers.
Contractors
All Contractors engaged by the College are responsible for contributing to the safety and protection of students in the College environment.
All Direct Contact and Regular Contractors engaged by the College are required to comply with our Child Safety Policy and Child Safety Code of Conduct and understand their legal obligations with respect to the reporting of child abuse, grooming and other harm. The College may include this requirement in the written agreement between it and the Contractor.
Direct Contact and Regular Contractors may include, for example, maintenance and building personnel, consultants, casual teachers, tutors, sports coaches and College cleaners. This also includes peripatetic music teachers and other extra-curricular teachers and instructors who are engaged by students and their families directly, rather than the College, but have an agreement with the College to use the College's facilities.
External Education Providers
An External Education Provider is any organisation that the College has arranged to deliver a specified course of study that is part of the curriculum, to a student or students enrolled at the College. The delivery of such a course may take place on College premises or elsewhere.
All External Education Providers engaged by the College are responsible for contributing to the safety and protection of students in all College environments. All External Education Providers engaged by the College are required by the College to comply with our Child Safety Policy and our Child Safety Code of Conduct. Scotch College may include this requirement in the written agreement between it and the External Education Provider.
10. Child Safety Human Resources Management
Scotch College applies best practice standards in the recruitment and screening of Staff and Direct Contact and Regular Volunteers. Our recruitment procedures comply with the College's Child Safe Human Resources Management practices and ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to engage the most suitable and appropriate people to work with children and young people. All Staff, Direct Contact and Regular Volunteers and Direct Contact and Regular Contractors are required to maintain a valid Working with Children Check.
The College ensures that the College Executive, Staff and Direct Contact Volunteers and Direct Contact Contractors undergo child safe induction, and ongoing education and training as part of our commitment to safeguarding children from harm.
Staff, Direct Contact Volunteers and Direct Contact Contractors are subject to regular supervision and performance monitoring whilst engaging with students.
The College ensures that professional development programs for Staff include child safe education and training programs.
11. Child Safety Risk Management
The College recognises the importance of a risk management approach to minimising the potential for child abuse or harm to occur and we use this information to inform our policies, procedures and activity planning.
The College has developed a comprehensive Risk Management Program to assist in the identification, assessment and management of child safety risks in all College environments.
12. Record Keeping
The College has a Child Safe Record Keeping policy and is committed to best practice record keeping.
In maintaining records of child safety incidents or concerns, the College maintains confidentiality and privacy for students and families in accordance with federal and state privacy legislation.
13. Policy and Program Review
Scotch College is committed to the continuous improvement of our Child Safety Program. The Program is regularly reviewed for overall effectiveness and to ensure compliance with all child protection and child safety related laws, regulations and standards.
The College is committed to actively seeking, actioning, and incorporating into this Policy, feedback from students, families, the wider College community, Staff, Volunteers and Contractors, and will communicate any adjustments or amendments widely throughout the College community.
14. Non-Compliance with Our Child Safety Policy
Scotch College enforces this Child Safety Policy and our Child Safety Code of Conduct. In the event of any non-compliance, we will instigate a review that may result in a range of measures including (depending on the severity of the breach):
- remedial education
- counselling
- increased supervision
- the restriction of duties
- suspension or
- in the case of serious breaches, termination of employment, contract or engagement.
Reviewed December 2020.
