Child protection is everyone’s responsibility. At Wesley College all members of the College Council and staff, as well as direct and indirect volunteers, have a shared responsibility for contributing to the safety and protection of children.
Specific responsibilities include:
Each governing body 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 is responsible, and will be accountable for, taking all practical measures to ensure that this Child Protection and Safety Policy and the Child Protection Program are implemented effectively and that a strong and sustainable child protection culture is maintained.
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 are the first point of contact for raising child protection concerns within our school. They are also responsible for championing child protection and assisting in coordinating responses to child protection incidents.
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 one of our Child Protection Officers.
All Direct Contact Volunteers, as defined in this policy, 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.
Indirect Contact Volunteers (or 'Indirect Volunteers') are those volunteers who are involved in providing support and services whilst not directly assisting a specific group of students.
All Indirect Volunteers are responsible for contributing to the safety and protection of children in the school environment.
All Indirect Volunteers are required to be familiar with our Child Protection and Safety Policy and our Child Safety Code of Conduct.
Examples of Indirect Contact Volunteer activities may include assisting with administrative functions.
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.
Direct Contact Contractors are:
- those who have direct contact** with students during the normal course of their work;
- those who may be in a position to establish a relationship of trust with a student notwithstanding that unsupervised access to students would be rare (for example full-time maintenance personnel); and
- any contractors whom we are legally required to screen.
**The Working with Children Act 2005 (Vic) defines ‘direct contact’ as any contact between a person and a child (aged under 18) that involves:
- physical contact; or
- face to face contact; or
- contact by post or other written communication; or
- contact by telephone or other oral communication; or
- contact by email or other electronic communication.
Indirect Contact Contractors are those contractors who do not meet the definition of “Direct Contact Contractor”. Refer to Third Party Contractors’ Responsibilities for more information.
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.
We may include this requirement in the written agreement with the External Education Provider.
