Child Safe Standard 6

Child Safe Standard 6: Strategies to identify and reduce or remove the risk of abuse

Rationale

Glengala Primary School has adopted an active risk management approach to the duty of care in protecting our children from any possible safety risk.  We have a commitment to continuous improvement and a legal responsibility to ensure the safety of all children.  Ensuring our children are safe is the shared responsibility of all staff members at Glengala Primary School, in reducing and removing any potential risks.

Glengala Primary School has implemented a formal and structured approach to managing risks associated with child safety in meeting Child Safe Standard 6.  The strategy outlines how risk is managed, including who is responsible for the process (the School Council), and a description of the process itself.  The process includes risk assessment, implementation of controls, and a monitoring and review process to ensure the efficacy of the risk management approach.

The school’s risk management strategies regarding child safety identify and ultimately remove the risk(s) of child abuse in school environments by taking into account:

  • the nature of our school environment
  • the activities expected to be conducted in our environment (including the provision of services by contractors or outside organisations)
  • the needs of all children expected to be present in that environment.

 

Process for identifying and reducing or removing risks of child abuse

Managing risk at Glengala Primary School involves the following steps and considerations:

  • Identifying the school’s child safety risks across a range of school environments (including excursions, camps and online. Please see Glengala Primary School’s Child Safety Register, excursion and camp policies for further information)
  • Ensuring that all areas of the School’s Risk Assessment document (as required by the DE&T School Policy & Advisory Guide: Risk Management Policy) rating is rated as ‘low risk’
  • Engage in regular, 2 year review of existing Risk Assessment plan, child safe standards and related school policies and or, internal processes addressing the reduction and removal of any risk(s).

Effective risk management strategies will be transparent, well understood and diverse, to take account of the increased level of risk associated with the specific nature of some activities and the vulnerability of particular groups. Effective risk management strategies are dynamic and change over time as new risks arise and others may no longer be relevant.  Glengala Primary School will be implementing this standard by including the following Risk Management strategies:

  • ensuring clear, documented and accessible processes for evaluating risks posed by situations and activities appropriate to the school, its size and resources, physical and online environments, and the characteristics of the children to whom it provides services
  • developing, recording and communicating clear processes for removing risks to children (eg cyberbullying)
  • providing staff with training in identifying child abuse risks
  • engaging methods for continual improvement in how risks are managed by learning from past experiences, including policy review and staff training.
  • reinforcing/reviewing supervision of children requirements for staff
  • establishing processes for periodic review of risk management approaches and/or processes following any incidents
  • recognising and adapting to the needs of children and communities, including Aboriginal children, culturally and/or linguistically diverse children and children with a disability; for example, acknowledgement that greater staff or volunteer to child ratios may be needed for some children with a disability
  • recognising and addressing risks to Aboriginal children which might exist if a child does not feel safe identifying themselves as Aboriginal, or if there is an inadequate response to self-identification
  • recognising and addressing risks to children with a culturally and/or linguistically diverse background, which might exist because of their experiences, by increasing communication with families to build trust and understanding of school activities
  • recognising and addressing risks for children with a disability, such as communication barriers when telling an adult they feel unsafe
  • having a Student Welfare Officer as a central reporting and advisory contact for staff and the wider community, to raise concerns with, and regarding concerns about a child safety.

 

 

Review Schedule:

This document is scheduled to be reviewed every two years, or earlier in response to a significant incident if it occurs.

 

Date of next scheduled review: October 2018