Help for non-English speakers
If you need help to understand this policy, please contact Donald Eddington, Principal. Non-English speakers can also access Google translate at the bottom of this web page.
As valuable partners in promoting and maintaining child safety and wellbeing at William Ruthven Primary School, we welcome and encourage your feedback. If you have any suggestions, comments or questions in relation to our child safe policies and practices, please contact the Principal, Donald Eddington via email, donald.eddington@education.vic.gov.au.
The William Ruthven Primary School Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy demonstrates our school’s commitment to creating and maintaining a child safe and child-friendly organisation, where children and young people are safe and feel safe. This policy provides an overview of our school’s approach to implementing Ministerial Order 1359 (PDF, 363KB) which sets out how the Victorian Child Safe Standards apply in school environments. It informs our school community of everyone’s obligations to act safely and appropriately towards children and guides our processes and practices for the safety and wellbeing of students across all areas of our work.
This policy:
Definitions
The following terms in this policy have specific definitions:
William Ruthven Primary School is a child safe organisation which welcomes all children, young people, and their families.
We are committed to providing environments where our students are safe and feel safe, where their participation is valued, their views respected, and their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives. Our child safe policies, strategies and practices are inclusive of the needs of all children and students.
We have no tolerance for child abuse and take proactive steps to identify and manage any risks of harm to students in our school environments.
We promote positive relationships between students and adults and between students and their peers. These relationships are based on trust and respect.
We take proactive steps to identify and manage any risk of harm to students in our school environment. When child safety concerns are raised or identified, we treat these seriously and respond promptly and thoroughly.
Particular attention is given to the child safety needs of Aboriginal students, those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, international students, students with disabilities, those unable to live at home, children and young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer and asexual (LGBTIQA+) and other students experiencing risk or vulnerability. Inappropriate or harmful behaviour targeting students based on these or other characteristics, such as racism or homophobia, are not tolerated at our school, and any instances identified will be addressed with appropriate consequences.
Child safety is a shared responsibility. Every person involved in our school has an important role in promoting child safety and wellbeing and promptly raising any issues or concerns about a child’s safety.
We are committed to regularly reviewing our child safe practices, and seeking input from our families, staff, and volunteers to inform our ongoing strategies.
School leadership team
Our school leadership team (comprising the Principal, Assistant Principal, Learning Specialist and Business Manager) is responsible for ensuring that a strong child safe culture is created and maintained, and that policies and practices are effectively developed and implemented in accordance with Ministerial Order 1359.
The Principal and Assistant Principal will:
School staff and volunteers
All staff and volunteers will:
School Council
In performing the functions and powers given to them under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, School Council members will:
At our school, School Council employment duties are delegated to the Principal who is bound by this policy.
William Ruthven Primary School has nominated a Child Safety Champion (i.e., the Student Wellbeing Leader) to support the Principal to implement our child safety policies and practices, including staff and volunteer training.
The responsibilities of the Child Safety Champion are outlined at Guidance for Child Safety Champions. In addition to these roles, our Child Safety Champion is also responsible for:
Our Principal and Child Safety Champion are the first point of contact for child safety concerns or queries and for coordinating responses to child safety incidents.
The school’s Leadership Team is also the Child Safety and Wellbeing Team. School and House Captains will act as the Student Reference Group on child safety. The Child Safety and Wellbeing Team meet regularly to identify and respond to any ongoing matters related to child safety and wellbeing. The Student Reference Group provides an opportunity for students to provide input into school strategies.
The school’s Leadership Team monitors the Child Safety Risk Register.
Our Child Safety Code of Conduct sets the boundaries and expectations for appropriate behaviours between adults and students. It also clarifies behaviours that are not acceptable in our physical and online environments.
We ensure that students also know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable so that they can be clear and confident about what to expect from adults in the school.
The Child Safety Code of Conduct also includes processes to report inappropriate behaviour.
At our school we identify, assess, and manage risks to child safety and wellbeing in our physical and online school environments. These risks are managed through our child safety and wellbeing policies, procedures, and practices, and in our activity specific risk registers, such as those we develop for off-site overnight camps, adventure activities, facilities, and services we contract through third party providers for student use.
Our Child Safety Risk Register is used to record any identified risks related to child abuse alongside actions in place to manage those risks. Our school leadership team will monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions in the Child Safety Risk Register at least annually.
At William Ruthven Primary School we are committed to establishing an inclusive and culturally safe school where the strengths of Aboriginal culture, values and practices are respected.
We think about how every student can have a positive experience in a safe environment. For Aboriginal students, we recognise the link between Aboriginal culture, identity and safety and actively create opportunities for Aboriginal students and the Aboriginal community to have a voice and presence in our school planning, policies, and activities.
We have developed the following strategies to promote cultural safety in our school community:
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Plan outlines the measures we have in place to maintain an inclusive and culturally safe school for inclusive and culturally safe school for Aboriginal children and students.
To support child safety and wellbeing at William Ruthven Primary school we work to create an inclusive and supportive environment that encourages students and families to contribute to our child safety approach and understand their rights and their responsibilities.
Respectful relationships between students are reinforced and we encourage strong friendships and peer support in the school to ensure a sense of belonging through the implementation of our whole school approach to the Respectful Relationships program, our student Code of Conduct and our school values.
We inform students of their rights through our Respectful Relationships program and give them the skills and confidence to recognise unsafe situations with adults or other students and to speak up and act on concerns relating to themselves or their peers. We ensure our students know who to talk to if they are worried or feeling unsafe and we encourage them to share concerns with a trusted adult at any time. Students and families can also access information on how to report concerns.
When the school is gathering information in relation to a complaint about alleged misconduct or abuse of a child, we will listen to the complainant’s account and take them seriously, check our understanding of the complaint, support the student, and keep them (and their parents and carers, as appropriate) informed about progress.
Our families and the school community have an important role in monitoring and promoting children’s safety and wellbeing and helping children to raise any concerns.
To support family engagement, at William Ruthven Primary School we are committed to providing families and community with accessible information about our school’s child safe policies and practices and involving them in our approach to child safety and wellbeing.
We will create opportunities for families to have input into the development and review of our child safety policies and practices and encourage them to raise any concerns and ideas for improvement.
We do this by:
As a child safe organisation, we celebrate the rich diversity of our students, families and community and promote respectful environments that are free from discrimination. Our focus is on wellbeing and growth for all.
We recognise that every child has unique skills, strengths, and experiences to draw on.
We pay particular attention to individuals and groups of children and young people in our community with additional and specific needs. This includes tailoring our child safety strategies and supports to the needs of:
At William Ruthven Primary School we apply robust child safe recruitment, induction, training, and supervision practices to ensure that all staff, contractors, and volunteers are suitable to work with children.
Staff recruitment
When recruiting staff, we follow the Department of Education and Training’s recruitment policies and guidelines, available on the Policy and Advisory Library (PAL) at:
When engaging staff to perform child-related work, we:
Staff induction
All newly appointed staff will be expected to participate in our child safety and wellbeing induction program. The program will include a focus on:
Ongoing supervision and management of staff
All staff engaged in child-connected work will be supervised appropriately to ensure that their behaviour towards children is safe and appropriate.
Staff will be monitored and assessed to ensure their continuing suitability for child-connected work. This will be done by annual performance and development reviews, as well as:
Inappropriate behaviour towards children and young people will be managed swiftly and in accordance with our school and department policies and our legal obligations. Child safety and wellbeing will be paramount.
Suitability of volunteers
All volunteers are required to comply with our Volunteers Policy, which describes how we assess the suitability of prospective volunteers and outlines expectations in relation to child safety and wellbeing induction and training, and supervision and management.
Ongoing training and education are essential to ensuring that staff understand their roles and responsibilities and develop their capacity to effectively address child safety and wellbeing matters.
In addition to the child safety and wellbeing induction, our staff will participate in a range of training and professional learning to equip them with the skills and knowledge necessary to maintain a child safe environment.
Staff child safety and wellbeing training will be delivered at least annually and will include guidance on:
Other professional learning and training on child safety and wellbeing, for example, training for our volunteers, will be tailored to specific roles and responsibilities and any identified or emerging needs or issues.
School Council training and education
To ensure our School Council is equipped with the knowledge required to make decisions in the best interests of student safety and wellbeing, and to identify and mitigate child safety and wellbeing risks in our school environment, the council is trained at least annually. Training includes guidance on:
William Ruthven Primary School fosters a culture that encourages staff, volunteers, students, parents, and the school community to raise concerns and complaints. This makes it more difficult for breaches of the code of conduct, misconduct, or abuse to occur and remain hidden.
We have clear pathways for raising complaints and concerns and responding and this is documented in our school’s Complaints Policy.
If there is an incident, disclosure, allegation or suspicion of child abuse, all staff, and volunteers (including School Council employees) must follow our Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedures. Our policy and procedures address complaints and concerns of child abuse made by or in relation to a child or student, school staff, volunteers, contractors, service providers, visitors or any other person while connected to the school.
As soon as any immediate health and safety concerns are addressed, and relevant school staff have been informed, we will ensure our school follows:
Our Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy and Bullying Prevention Policy cover complaints and concerns relating to student physical violence or other harmful behaviours.
William Ruthven Primary School is committed to communicating our child safety strategies to the school community through:
This policy will be communicated to our school community in the following ways:
Privacy and information sharing
William Ruthven Primary School collects, uses, and discloses information about children and their families in accordance with Victorian privacy laws, and other relevant laws. For information on how our school collects, uses and discloses information refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy.
Records management
We acknowledge that good records management practices are a critical element of child safety and wellbeing and manage our records in accordance with the Department of Education and Training’s policy: Records Management – School Records.
Review of child safety practices
At William Ruthven Primary School, we have established processes for the review and ongoing improvement of our child safe policies, procedures, and practices. We will:
Related policies and procedures
This Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy is to be read in conjunction with other related school policies, procedures, and codes. These include our:
Related Department of Education and Training policies
Other related documents
The School Leadership Team is responsible for reviewing and updating the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy (this document) at least every two years. The review will include input from parents/carers/the school community.
Approval