Child Safe School
Our commitment to protecting your child
Our Commitment to Child Safety
Christian College Geelong is a child safe organisation which welcomes all children, young people and their families.
All children and young people who come to Christian College Geelong have a right to feel and be safe. 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 promote positive relationships between students and adults and between students and their peers. These relationships are based on trust and respect.
Christian College Geelong is committed to child safety and the protection of children from all forms of child abuse. At Christian College Geelong, we have a zero tolerance for child abuse and are committed to acting in children’s best interests, keeping them safe from harm.
The College 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 child safe culture. Each member of the College community has a responsibility to understand the important and specific role that they play individually and collectively to ensure that the wellbeing and safety of all students is at the forefront of all that they do and every decision that they make.
The College demonstrates this commitment through the implementation of a comprehensive child safe program that is appropriately reviewed and regularly updated to ensure that we maintain and embed a child safe culture and environment.
Our Child Safe Program
Our Child Safe Program is made up of work systems, practices, policies, and procedures designed to maintain a child safe environment and to embed an organisational culture of child safety within the College community.
The Program deals specifically with creating and maintaining a child safe organisation, including – but going further than – child protection issues. It is designed to ensure compliance with:
- The Victorian Child Safe Standards
- Ministerial Order No. 1359, made under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic)
- Child safety and wellbeing (including but not limited to child protection) laws and regulations in Victoria.
Our Child Safe Program itself is one of the strategies employed by Christian College Geelong
to embed a culture of child safety at the College.
It includes:
- The Child Protection and Safety Policy
- The Child Protection Code of Conduct and Staff and Student Professional Boundary Policy
- Clear information about what is child abuse and other harm and key indicators of child abuse and other harm
- Clear procedures, that are consistent with PROTECT Four Critical Actions and Four Critical Actions: Student Sexual Offending, for responding to and reporting child safety incidents or concerns internally to a Child Safety Officer, and for responding to incidents or allegations of child abuse or other harm
- Strategies to support, encourage and enable Staff, Volunteers, Contractors, parents/carers and students to understand, identify, discuss and report child safety matters
- Procedures for recruiting and screening members of the Executive Team, Staff, Volunteers and Contractors
- Procedures for reporting to external agencies, that are consistent with PROTECT Four Critical Actions and Four Critical Actions: Student Sexual Offending, including Mandatory Reporting to the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Child Protection), reportable conduct to the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) and reporting child sexual abuse to police
- Pastoral care strategies designed to empower students and keep them safe
- Strategies to support and encourage the participation and inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and students with disability
- Child protection training
- Information regarding the steps to take after a disclosure of abuse or other harm to protect, support and assist students
- Guidelines with respect to record keeping and confidentiality
- Policies to ensure compliance with all relevant laws, regulations and standards (including the Victorian Child Safe Standards and Ministerial Order 1359)
- A system for continuous review and improvement.
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