child protection

Kinross Wolaroi School is committed to promoting the safety, welfare, and wellbeing of our students. The School takes a preventative, proactive and participatory approach to child safety with a commitment to the participation and empowerment of all children as well as the needs of all students, including those with a disability, indigenous students, and children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Objectives

This policy provides the framework for:

(i) the development of work systems, practices, policies, and procedures that promote child protection, safety, and wellbeing at the School.

(ii) The creation of a safe and supportive school environment with a positive and proactive child protection culture ensuring all children and young people know who to talk with if they are worried or are feeling unsafe, and that they are comfortable and encouraged to raise such issues.

(iii) the promotion and open discussion of child protection within the School with a culture of openness that supports all persons to safely disclose and confidentially report risks of harm to children.

(iv) complying with all legislation and standards relevant to child protection in NSW.

Application

This Statement applies to the School and its Council Members, Staff, Volunteers, Third-party Contractors, External Education Providers, Student Teachers and Students, for the safety, protection, and well-being of all School students.

It is an expectation that all of these groups commit to, support, and promote the School’s Child Protection Policy and Staff Code of Conduct.

Statement of commitment to child safety

The School is committed to providing education and care to children and young people to reach their full potential and ensure that their safety, welfare, and wellbeing is at the forefront and considered paramount in their time at the School.

The School has zero tolerance to abuse.

The School is committed to ensuring the safety, welfare and wellbeing of all children and young people at the School and is dedicated to protecting them from abuse and harm.

The School regards its child protection 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 to maintain a safe and supportive school both in the physical and online environments for all children and young people and creating conditions to reduce the likelihood of children being harmed.

The School values and empowers children and young people to participate in decisions which affect their lives and provides opportunities for students to participate in discussions about their safety.

The School values the input of and will communicate regularly with families and carers.

Child safe values and principles

Our commitment to child safety is based on the following overarching principles that guide the development and regular review of our work systems, practices, policies and procedures to protect children from abuse.

• All children have the right to be safe.
• The welfare and best interests of the child are paramount.
• The views of the child and a child’s privacy must be respected.
• Clear expectations for appropriate behaviour with children are established in our Staff Code of Conduct and Child Protection Policy.
• The safety of children is dependent upon the existence of a child safe culture.
• Child safety awareness is promoted and openly discussed within our school community.
• The School engages only the most suitable people to work with children and has high quality staff and volunteer supervision and professional development, with robust procedures in place to screen all staff, volunteers, third-party contractors, external education providers and student teachers who have direct contact with children.
• Child safety and protection is everyone's responsibility.
• Child protection training is mandatory for all School Council members, staff, third-party contractors, volunteers and external education providers.
• Procedures for responding to alleged or suspected incidents of child abuse and harm are simple and accessible for all members of the School community.
• Procedures are in place to ensure all School premises are designed to ensure the safety of children.
• The School shares information appropriately and lawfully with other organisations where the safety and wellbeing of children is at risk.

Child Protection Officers

As part of our commitment to child safety and protection, the School has several experienced Child Protection Officers. These staff members are trained to deal with sensitive issues relating to child protection and safety.

Responsibilities

The School acknowledges that child protection is everyone’s responsibility.

At Kinross Wolaroi School all members of the school council, staff, volunteers, third-party contractors and external education providers have a shared responsibility for contributing to the safety and protection of children.

Specific responsibilities can also be found in the School’s Child Protection Policy.

The School will ensure that rigorous reference and background checking of all staff is undertaken as part of the selection process, which includes amongst other things, reference checking and a Working with Children Check. Further detail of this process is outlined in the School’s Child Safe Recruitment Policy.

Reporting Child Protection Concerns

The School will report suspected abuse, neglect, or mistreatment without delay to the appropriate authorities.

The School’s Child Protection Policy provides detailed guidance for all members of the School community as to how to report child abuse concerns to the Principal (or authorised delegate).

Staff, Volunteers, Third-party Contractors and External Education Providers, Students, Parents/Carers, or other community members who have concerns that a child may be subject to abuse are asked to contact the Principal (or authorised delegate).

Disclosure of child abuse matters are treated confidentially based on a need-to-know basis.

Whenever there are concerns that a child is in immediate danger the Police will be called on 000.

Review

The School is committed to the continuous improvement of our Child Protection Policy and to ensuring its compliance with NSW child protection legislation and standards.

The Child Protection Policy is regularly reviewed for overall effectiveness and to ensure compliance with all child protection related legislation and standards.

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View a copy of the Statement

The Kinross Wolaroi School Child Protection Policy outlines appropriate standards of behaviour for all adults towards students. The Policy serves to protect students, reduce any opportunities for abuse or harm to occur, and promote child safety in the school environment.

It provides guidance on how to best support students and how to avoid or better manage difficult situations. Where a staff member breaches the Policy, we may take disciplinary action, including in the case of serious breaches, summary dismissal.

Please note that teachers and some other employees have mandatory reporting obligations under the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) where they have reasonable grounds to suspect a child under the age of 16 years is at risk of significant harm and have current concerns about the safety, welfare and wellbeing of the child. You should refer to the School's Child Protection Policy for further information about these obligations.

We have the following expectations of behaviours and boundaries for all adults interacting with students within our community. This includes all teaching staff, non-teaching staff, School Council members, volunteers, third-party contractors, external education providers and parents/carers.

Our School Council has endorsed this Policy.

DO:

• Behave as a positive role model to students.
• Promote the safety, welfare and wellbeing of students.
• Be vigilant and proactive with regard to student safety and child protection issues.
• Provide age-appropriate supervision for students.
• Comply with guidelines we publish with respect to child protection.
• Treat all students with respect.
• Promote the safety, participation and empowerment of students with a disability.
• Promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of linguistically and culturally diverse students.
• Use positive and affirming language towards students.
• Encourage students to ‘have a say’ and then listen to them with respect.
• Respect cultural, religious and political differences.
• Help provide an open, safe and supportive environment for all students to interact, and socialise.
• Intervene when students are engaging in inappropriate bullying behaviour towards others or acting in a humiliating or vilifying way.
• Report any breaches of this Child Safety Code of Conduct.
• Report concerns about child safety to one of the Child Protection Officers and ensure that your legal obligations to report allegations externally are met.
• Where an allegation of child abuse is made, ensure as quickly as possible that the student involved is safe.
• Call the Police on 000 if you have immediate concerns for a student's safety.
• Respect the privacy of students and their families and only disclose information to people who have a need to know.
  

DO NOT:

• Engage in any form of inappropriate behaviour towards students or expose students to such behaviour.
• Use prejudice, oppressive behaviour or inappropriate language with students.
• Express personal views on cultures, race or sexuality in the presence of students or discriminate against any student based on culture, race, ethnicity or disability.
• Engage in open discussions of an adult nature in the presence of students.
• Engage in any form of sexual conduct with a student including making sexually suggestive comments and sharing sexually suggestive material.
• Engage in inappropriate or unnecessary physical conduct or behaviours including doing things of a personal nature that a student can do for themselves, such as toileting or changing clothes.
• Engage in any form of physical violence towards a student including inappropriately rough physical play.
• Use physical means or corporal punishment to discipline or control a student.
• Engage in any form of behaviour that has the potential to cause a student serious emotional or psychological harm.
• Develop ‘special’ relationships with students that could be seen as favouritism (for example, the offering of gifts or special treatment for specific students).
• Engage in undisclosed private meetings with a student that is not your own child.
• Engage in meetings with a child that is not your own, outside of school hours and without permission from the school and the child’s parent.
• Engage in inappropriate personal communications with a student through any medium, including any online contact or interactions with a student.
• Take or publish (including online) photos, movies or recordings of a student without parental/carer consent.
• Post online any information about a student that may identify them such as their: full name; age; e-mail address; telephone number; residence; school; or details of a club or group they may attend.
• Ignore or disregard any suspected or disclosed child abuse.
• Our Child Protection Program includes a Staff and Student Professional Boundaries Policy that provides detailed guidance for all staff and Volunteers on how to maintain professional boundaries between students and adults. The Child Protection Policy is supported by the School's Staff Code of Conduct, which is signed by every employee.

Reporting concerns

Staff must report to the Principal any concerns about any other employee, contractor or volunteer engaging in 'reportable conduct' or any allegation of 'reportable conduct' that has been made. This includes self-disclosure if the allegation involves you.

Broadly, 'reportable conduct' includes:

(a) any sexual offence, or sexual misconduct, committed against, with, or in the presence of, a child (including a child pornography offence); or

(b) any assault, ill-treatment or neglect of a child; or

(c) any behaviour that causes psychological harm to a child, whether or not the child consents.

Behaviour that causes psychological harm is conduct that is obviously or very clearly unreasonable and results in significant emotional harm or trauma to a child. Neglect includes either an action or inaction by a person who has care responsibilities towards a child.

Reportable conduct does not extend to:

(a) conduct that is reasonable for the purposes of the discipline, management or care of children, having regard to the age, maturity, health or other characteristics of the children and to any relevant codes of conduct or professional standards, or

(b) the use of physical force that is trivial or negligible. However, the matter will be investigated and the result of the investigation recorded under workplace employment procedures; or

(c) conduct that is exempted from notification by a Class or Kind Agreement.

Training for staff, volunteers and third-party contractors includes information about how to identify key risk indicators of child abuse and how to report child abuse concerns. It also contains detailed procedures with respect to the reporting of child abuse incidents to relevant authorities.

Third-party contractors, external education providers, indirect contact volunteers, students, parents or other community members who have concerns that a child may be subject to abuse are asked to contact the Principal.

Communications will be treated confidentially on a ‘need to know basis’.

Whenever there are concerns that a child is in immediate danger, the Police should be contacted on 000.

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View the Child Protection Policy

Child protection is everyone’s responsibility. At Kinross Wolaroi School all members of the School community have a shared responsibility for contributing to the safety and protection of children.

Specific responsibilities include:

School Council

Each School Council member is required to ensure that appropriate resources are made available to allow the Child Protection and Safety Policy and the Child Protection Program to be effectively implemented and are responsible for holding the Principal and management team accountable for effective implementation.

The Principal

The Principal is responsible, and will be accountable for, taking all practical measures to ensure that the Child Protection and Safety Policy and the Child Protection Program are implemented effectively and that a strong and sustainable child protection culture is maintained.

The School’s Child Protection Officers

A number of senior staff members are nominated as Child Protection Officers. Our Child Protection Officers receive additional specialised training with respect to child protection issues. They support the Principal in investigating child protection concerns within our school. They are also responsible for championing child protection and assisting in coordinating responses to child protection incidents.

Staff Members

All staff are required to be familiar with the content of our Child Protection and Safety Policy and our Child Protection Program and their legal obligations with respect to the reporting of child abuse. It is each individual’s responsibility to be aware of key risk indicators of child abuse, to be observant, and to raise any concerns they may have relating to child abuse with the Principal.

Volunteers

All volunteers are required to be familiar with the content of our Child Protection and Safety Policy, our Child Protection Program and their legal obligations with respect to the reporting of child abuse.

It is each individual’s responsibility to be aware of key risk indicators of child abuse, to be observant, and to raise any concerns they may have relating to child abuse with one of the Child Protection Officers.

Third-party Contractors

All third-party contractors (service providers) which we engage are responsible for contributing to the safety and protection of children in the school environment.

Third-party Contractors include, for example, maintenance and building personnel, consultants, casual teachers, tutors, sports coaches and cleaners.

This also includes music teachers and other extra-curricular teachers and instructors who are engaged by students and their families directly but have an agreement with us to use school facilities.

All service providers we engage are required to be familiar with our Child Protection and Safety Policy and our Child Protection Program.

We may include this requirement in the written agreement with the service provider.

External Education Providers

An External Education Provider is any organisation arranged to deliver a specified course of study that is part of the curriculum, to a student or students enrolled at our school.

The delivery of such a course may take place on premises or elsewhere.

All External Education Providers we engage are responsible for contributing to the safety and protection of children in the school environment.

All External Education Providers we engage are required to be familiar with our Child Protection and Safety Policy and our Child Protection Program.

Our child protection program provides detailed guidance for School Council members, staff, contractors and volunteers as to how to identify key risk indicators of child abuse and how to report child abuse concerns. It also contains detailed procedures with respect to the reporting of child abuse incidents to relevant authorities.

Staff, contractors, external education providers, volunteers, students, parents/guardians and other community members who have concerns that a child may be subject to abuse or grooming are asked to contact the Principal without delay:
- Email | principal@kws.nsw.edu.au
- Phone | 02 6392 0301

Communications will be treated confidentially on a “need to know basis”.

Whenever there are concerns that a child is in immediate danger the Police should be called on 000.

This Staff Code of Conduct is made available to the School's staff at the commencement of their employment or engagement and is referred to during their employment or engagement in induction and training.

View our Code of Conduct

View our Complaint Management Policy

Kinross Wolaroi School is a Child Safe Organisation. As such, the School undertakes the necessary steps to identify the most suitable people to work with our children and young people.

View our Child Safe Recruitment Policy