Child safety and wellbeing at Wangaratta West Primary School:  Information for families and the school community

 

Wangaratta West Primary School is committed to providing an environment where students are safe and feel safe. We have a zero tolerance for child abuse and are committed to protecting children from harm.

Our child safety framework includes policies, codes and procedures that explain how we support and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students and protect them from harm. These documents are available on our website: http://www.wangwestps.vic.edu.au

We are also committed to continuous improvement of our child safety framework. We are currently reviewing our child safety policies and practices to ensure they are up-to-date and effective.

Our comprehensive child safety framework outlines our school’s strategies to support student safety and wellbeing. The framework includes the following policies, codes and procedures:  

 

  • Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy

  • Child Safety Code of Conduct

  • Child safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedure

  • Complaints Policy

  • Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy

  • Bullying Prevention Policy

  • Volunteers Policy

  • Visitors Policy

  • Digital Learning Policy

  • Yard Duty and Supervision Policy

  • Insert any other relevant child safety policies in place at your school

 

Each of these are available on our website via: Child Safety Policies

Our students and their families are important partners in keeping our students safe. We value feedback and ideas on how we can continuously strengthen our child safety framework and improve our approach to child safety and wellbeing.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact  Kristy Mullins on 57213491 or at kristy.mullins@education.vic.gov.au 

Child Safety and WEllbeing

Building culturally safe environments and responding to diverse needs

Our staff can support every student to have a positive experience in a safe environment. This includes supporting aboriginal cultural safety and understanding the diverse circumstances of children and students.

At our school we:

·       promote cultural safety in our school community by recognising the link between Aboriginal culture, identity and safety.

·       pay particular attention to the needs of students with disability, students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, students who are unable to live at home, international students, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) students and Aboriginal students.

·       Termly Student Support Group meetings; Individual Education Plans for students requiring additional assistance/diagnosed with a disability/identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, etc.

Record keeping obligations for schools and staff

Good records management practices are a critical element of child safety and wellbeing. Our school follows the Department’s Records Management - School Records Policy which addresses requirements for creating, storing and disposing of school records.

In line with our Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedures, when responding to an incident, disclosure, allegation or suspicion of child abuse it is imperative that we maintain detailed notes using the Responding to Suspected Child Abuse: Template. These notes are to be retained and stored on the student’s file in Compass.

Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes

The Child Information sharing Scheme and the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (the Information Sharing Schemes) provide authorised organisations, including Victorian schools, with an expanded ability to share confidential information with other authorised services to promote the wellbeing or safety of children or to assess or manage family violence risk. At our school [name/s] is authorised to request and share information under the Information Sharing Schemes on behalf of the school. [This will include the school principal and any other staff member identified by the principal to request and share information under the schemes, on behalf of their school.]

Training

All staff must complete the eLearn module, Protecting Children – Mandatory Reporting and Other Obligations, which is accessed through EduPay and participate in our annual Child Safety training.

The training covers important child safety content including:

·       Understanding your obligations, including failure to disclose and failure to protect, and the Reportable Conduct Scheme.

·       How to recognise indicators of child harm including harm caused by other children and students.

·       How to respond effectively to issues of child safety and wellbeing and support colleagues who disclose harm

If you have any follow-up questions or feedback on any of our child safety policies and procedures, please contact Kristy Mullins (Principal) or any other member of the Leadership Team.