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Welcome to our Site
The Safeguarding team exist within Catholic Schools Broken Bay to assist Teachers, School Staff, CSBB Staff, Parents & Students to create a safe and supportive environment within their schools for children and young people to learn and grow.
Please contact us at safeguarding@dbb.catholic.edu.au or on 7256 2211 for any questions or queries
Meet the Safeguarding Team
Child Safe Standards
Diocesan Safeguarding
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Rights of the Child Framework
Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and we take our responsibility to protect children seriously. All staff are expected to commit to Safeguarding by promoting child safety, having a clear understanding of their legal child protection responsibilities and act in accordance with those responsibilities.
In particular schools have a responsibility to:
- Maintain professionalism in interactions with children at all times by exercising appropriate duty of care and maintaining appropriate professional boundaries.
- Follow an established process to monitor and report allegations of inappropriate behaviour by staff towards children.
- Ensure all people working in our school including parent volunteers, are appropriately screened and inducted.
- Respond appropriately when we suspect a child is at risk of significant harm due to possible abuse or neglect by a parent/carer or other adult.
Maintaining Professionalism
All staff are expected to act professionally and in accordance with the school’s expectations regarding staff conduct toward children. Members of staff receive guidance and professional development in relation to appropriate interactions with students, how to exercise duty of care and how to maintain professional boundaries.
We understand that staff have a duty of care to:
- Ensure no child is exposed to foreseeable risk of harm
- Take action to minimise risk
- Supervise actively, and;
- If we see others acting inappropriately with children, report concerns to the Principal or seek further advice
Staff are required to:
- Demonstrate appropriate relationships with children that cannot be misinterpreted as overly personal or intimate;
- Remain within the responsibilities of their roles and allow those appropriately trained to deal with student welfare concerns;
- Minimise physical contact with children unless it is necessary to exercise appropriate duty of care;
- Follow the school’s policies and procedures relating to pastoral care and wellbeing including serious incidents and reporting risk of harm.
We are committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for both students and staff. This includes addressing complaints of inappropriate behaviour by staff towards any child or young person.
Such complaints are handled differently to other types of complaints which may arise in the school because of legal obligations established by the Children’s Guardian Act 2019. The NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian is a government agency which requires schools and other organisations working with children to ensure systems are in place for recording and responding to all allegations of a child protection nature against staff. You should be aware that ‘staff’ includes volunteer helpers as well as paid staff.
If you have concerns about alleged inappropriate behaviour by a staff member towards any child or young person it is important that you discuss your concerns with the Principal who in turn will consult with CSBB’s Office for Safeguarding.
All complaints are investigated and resolved through a fair and confidential process which involves listening to both sides of the story and giving all involved an opportunity to be heard. If the concerns involve alleged criminal behaviour they will be reported to the Police and CSBB will wait for the outcome of the Police investigation before continuing its own investigation.
At the end of an investigation a finding will be made and appropriate follow up determined. In relation to the staff member this may include no action, increased support, professional development, increased supervision/monitoring or disciplinary action, removal from duties or termination of employment.
Parent Volunteers
Parent participation, involvement and help are welcome and appreciated for various activities both in school and on excursions. It is important that all parent helpers / volunteers are aware that they may be subject to child protection legislation. This means all volunteers must:
- Not engage in any inappropriate behaviour towards any children. In particular although volunteers are technically not employed by the school, they are considered to be ‘staff’ for legal purposes and need to be aware that complaints about inappropriate behaviour towards any child or young person must be investigated.
- Sign on at the front office, be inducted and get a visitors badge from the office as per school procedure.
- Check with the school what the current legal requirements are for working with children.
Responding to risk of significant harm
All school staff are mandatory reporters. This means that if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is at risk of significant harm from abuse or neglect, then a report must be made to the Department of Communities & Justice, Child Protection Helpline (CP Helpline).
School staff are expected to inform the Principal if they are concerned that a child may be at risk. It is the role of the Principal (or delegate) to make the report to the CP Helpline.
In making a report the Principal will consider all the information and seek appropriate advice from CSBB’s Safeguarding Office. Any information about a child at risk is kept confidentially by the Principal.
In situations where a child is considered to be at risk the school will work with the child and family to assist them as much as possible.
If you have concerns about a child who you consider may be at risk, please discuss your concerns with the Principal as soon as possible and maintain confidentiality.
All reports made to DCJ need to be sent to the Safeguarding Office.
If you would like further information regarding any of the above please speak to your Principal first or feel free to contact CSBB’s Safeguarding Office on 7256 2211 or at: safeguarding@dbb.catholic.edu.au
Links
Link to Mandatory Report Guide
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