Commitment to the safety of children and young people
All children and young people are valued and respected and have a right to be safe and protected from harm or risk of harm.
Muirden Senior College is committed to the safety of children and young people. We are committed to providing a safe and caring environment both at the College and at places where College activities are undertaken to assist students to develop and reach their full potential. We value and respect all children and young people and embrace them regardless of their abilities, sex, gender, or social economic or cultural background and equity is upheld. A child safe culture is championed and modelled at all levels of Muirden Senior College and bullying and harassment will not be tolerated.
Scope of policy
Muirden Senior College will comply with legislative requirements on student protection, including the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017, Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016 and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. This policy applies to all employees, volunteers, students and contractors referred to throughout the policy collectively as workers.
Definition
Harm or risk of harm includes, but is not limited to:
- Sexual abuse
- Physical abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Neglect
- Any behaviours that threaten a child or young person’s wellbeing
Communication
This child safe policy is available on our website, on request, and is provided as part of a welcome pack at the first visit to all students and parents/caregivers. This policy is provided to all staff during induction and is included in the Muirden Senior College Staff Handbook for their reference.
We encourage and respect the views of children and young people and involve them in decision making as appropriate. We provide clear age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate explanations to children and young people including their right to safety, their right to be listened to and that they can provide feedback or make a complaint if they have a concern, to any worker or ask their parent/guardian to do this on their behalf. We will listen to and act upon any complaints or concerns that a child or young person raises with us.
Code of Conduct
Caring for children and young people brings additional responsibilities for workers. All workers are responsible for promoting and protecting the safety and wellbeing of children and young people by:
- sticking to the organisation’s child safe policy at all times and taking all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and protection of children and young people
- treating everyone including those of different race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, social class, physical ability or attributes and religious beliefs with respect and honesty and ensure equity is upheld
- being a positive role model to children and young people in all conduct with them
- setting clear boundaries about appropriate behaviour between yourself and children and young people – boundaries help everyone to understand their roles
- listening and responding appropriately to the views and concerns of children and young people
- being alert to bullying behaviours and responding promptly and appropriately
- ensuring another adult is always present or in sight when conducting one to one consulting, coaching, instruction or other activity
- being alert to children and young people who have been harmed, or may be at risk of harm and reporting this quickly to the Child Abuse Report Line (13 14 78)
- responding quickly, fairly and transparently to any complaints made by a child, young person or their parent/guardian
- encouraging children and young people to ‘have a say’ on issues that are important to them
Workers must not:
- engage in rough physical games
- develop any ‘special’ relationships with children and young people that could be seen as favouritism such as the offering of gifts or special treatment
- discriminate against any child or young person because of age, gender, cultural background, religion, vulnerability or sexuality
Breaches or suspected breaches of the Code of Conduct should be reported as soon as practicable to management either in person, by telephone on 8212 4342, or via email at afacchini@muirden.sa.edu.au. Breaches or suspected breaches of the Code of Conduct will be taken seriously and dealt with quickly, fairly and transparently.
Any worker who breaches the Code of Conduct will face disciplinary action and depending on severity of the breach, the worker may have their employment terminated.
Recruitment
To ensure we engage the most suitable people to work with children and young people we have the following recruitment practices in place:
- written applications
- face-to-face interviews that use behavioural questions to determine the applicant’s knowledge of child safeguarding
- at least 2 referee checks and qualification checks
In accordance with the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016, our organisation is registered with the DHS Screening Unit and we link all Working with Children Checks (WWCC). All workers who will be working in a role with children and young people must hold a current, not prohibited WWCC issued by the Screening Unit of the Department of Human Services, provide evidence of this prior to employment and renew this every 5 years. We will verify the accuracy of all WWCCs in the DHS Screening Unit portal as required by law.
We will immediately contact the Department of Human Services Screening Unit when we become aware of certain information regarding any person involved with our organisation, including any serious criminal offence, child protection information, or disciplinary or misconduct information.
Training, supervision and support for workers
We have strategies in place to supervise, train, and support workers to understand our organisation’s child safe policy, their mandatory reporting obligations, how to build culturally safe environments and their responsibilities to create a child safe and friendly environment. Our strategies include:
- Training:
- Update and renew Responding to Risk of Harm, Abuse and Neglect Training every 3 years
- include child safety in as a standing item on meeting agendas
- include child safety workshops in professional development sessions
- Support:
- regular performance appraisals that discuss child safeguarding
Reporting and responding to harm or risk of harm
Section 17 of the Safety Act defines ‘harm’ as the following:
- physical harm or psychological harm (whether caused by an act or omission) and, without limiting the generality of this subsection, includes such harm caused by sexual, physical, mental or emotional abuse or neglect
- psychological harm does not include emotional reactions such as distress, grief, fear or anger that are a response to the ordinary vicissitudes of life
Section 17 of the Safety Act states a child or young person will be taken to be at risk for the following reasons –
- (a) the child or young person has suffered harm (being harm of a kind against which a child or young person is ordinarily protected); or
- (b) there is a likelihood that the child or young person will suffer harm (being harm of a kind against which a child or young person is ordinarily protected); or
- (c) there is a likelihood that the child or young person will be removed from the State (whether by their parent or guardian or by some other person) for the purpose of—
- (i) being subjected to a medical or other procedure that would be unlawful if performed in this State (including, to avoid doubt, female genital mutilation); or
- (ii) taking part in a marriage ceremony (however described) that would be a void marriage, or would otherwise be an invalid marriage, under the Marriage Act 1961 of the Commonwealth; or Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017—1.1.2024
Reporting and responding to harm or risk of harm
Mandated notifiers in our organisation are workers who:
- provide services to children and young people
- hold a management position in the organisation the duties of which include direct responsibility for, or direct supervision of, the provision of those services to children and young people
Mandated notifiers have a legal obligation to notify the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) on 13 14 78 as soon as practicable if they have a reasonable belief that a child or young person is or may be at risk of harm. If the child or young person is at immediate risk, report to South Australia Police (SAPOL) on 000. In cases involving Aboriginal children and young people, support is provided by Yaitya Tirramangkotti – an Aboriginal team, via the CARL number.
Even if not a mandated reporter, any person can report harm or risk of harm to a child or young person. The individual who identifies the harm or risk of harm is encouraged to make the report to authorities and can request the support from another worker to do so if required.
Information about making appropriate reports of harm or risk of harm is available from the South Australian Department of Child Protection website: https://www.childprotection.sa.gov.au/reporting-child-abuse.
All adult workers (even if not a mandated notifier) have a legal obligation to report child sexual abuse to the police and to protect a child from sexual abuse. Failure to meet these obligations may be considered a criminal offence.
Following a report being made to CARL or SAPOL workers must make an internal report to management.
We will be guided by the Department for Child Protection and/or SAPOL after a report has been made as to whether we can conduct an internal investigation.
If a worker is reported to CARL or SAPOL for causing harm or risk of harm to a child or young person, they will be removed from any role that involves working with any child or young person until authorities have concluded their investigation.
Following a report to CARL or SAPOL we will support the child or young person by:
- referring the child, young person or their family to other appropriate services
- continuing to provide a service to the child, young person and their family and monitor their circumstances
We will document all information received regarding the report and store this securely in a separate file.
Reporting and responding to general complaints or feedback
Providing opportunities for complaints and feedback ensures that children, young people and their families feel valued and respected and enables us to improve the quality of our service. Children, young people and their families are informed that they can provide feedback or make a complaint when they join the organisation.
Compliments, complaints or feedback can be provided verbally or in writing to any worker or direct to management either by telephone on 8212 4342, via email at muirden@muirden.sa.edu.au or by post addressed to 368 King William Street, Adelaide SA 5000.
We will deal with all complaints and feedback received from children, young people or their families promptly, sensitively and fairly. We will:
- listen to the complaint/feedback
- the person receiving the complaint will make a record of it if received verbally
- advise of the time expected for an outcome
- if a worker receives a complaint, they must forward it to management as soon as possible
- management will respond to the complainant with an outcome within 14 days
- clearly document and securely store decisions and actions taken in response to complaints and feedback
- make sure that procedural fairness is followed at all times
If the child, young person or their family is not happy with the outcome from the complaints process they can contact:
- Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner 8226 8666
- Australian Human Rights Commission Online: www.humanrights.gov.au Tel: 1300 656 419
- South Australian Equal Opportunities Commission (for complaints relating to discrimination) Online: www.eoc.sa.gov.au Tel: 08 8207 1977
Risk management
The list below describes the specific risks to children and young people at Muirden Senior College and the actions that will be taken to minimise and manage each of the risks.
