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Child Safety
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The new Child Safe Standards came into force in Victoria on 1 July 2022.
The Victorian Government has introduced NEW Child Safe Standards to better protect children and young people from abuse.
The purpose of the Child Safe Standards is to prevent abuse of children by making organisations safer for children. In order for children to feel safe while at community language schools, responsibility for child safety should be understood and accepted by everyone in the organisation.
Here is a link to the official Victorian Child Safety website:
Every community language school and campus must have:
- strategies to embed an organisational culture of child safety, including through effective leadership arrangements
- a child safe policy or statement of commitment to child safety
- a code of conduct that establishes clear expectations for appropriate behaviour with children
- screening, supervision, training and other human resources practices that reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing personnel
- processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse
- strategies to identify and reduce or remove risks of child abuse
- strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of children.
All staff, volunteers and committee members must undertake three hours of compulsory Child Safety training .
In addition, all staff, volunteers and committee members must sign a Code of Conduct annually to ensure they have read and understood its contents.
The child-safe officers must take deliberate steps to safeguard children from physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse and neglect.
The new Child Safe Standards came into force on 1 July 2022, and schools now need to comply with these 11 new Standards.
What has changed in the New Child Safe Standards?
Although similar to Victoria’s current Child Safe Standards, key changes include new requirements:
- to involve families and communities in organisations’ efforts to keep children and young people safe
- for a greater focus on safety for Aboriginal children and young people
- to manage the risk of child abuse in online environments
- in relation to governance, systems and processes to keep children and young people safe.
Organisations must ensure that they comply with the NEW Child Safe Standards that are now in force since 1st July 2022.
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What the Standards aim to achieve:
The Child Safe Standards aim to:
- Promote the safety of children
- Prevent child abuse
- Ensure organisations have processes in place to respond to and report all allegations of child abuse.
Child Safe Standards work by:
- driving changes in organisational culture – embedding child safety in everyday thinking and practice
- providing a minimum standard of child safety across all organisations
- highlighting that we all have a role to keep children safe from abuse
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Child Safety Standards
- Standard 1:
Organisations establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued
- Standard 2: Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture
- Standard 3: Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously
- Standard 4: Families and communities are informed, and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing
- Standard 5: Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice
- Standard 6: People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice
- Standard 7: Processes for complaints and concerns are child focused
- Standard 8: Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training
- Standard 9: Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed
- Standard 10: Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved
- Standard 11: Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people
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Child Safety Resources, Policies and Procedures
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Child Safety Training:
NEW TRAININGS - An Update for Principals and CSOs
Ms Neda Erjaei, CLV Child Safety and Compliance Officer, conducted trainings to update on the new standards and it is mandatory for all Principals and CSO to attend.
The sessions were conducted online via Zoom to approximately 2 hours long.
Training sessions offered:
- Tuesday, 8 August: 3-Hour Mandatory Training for New Teachers and Volunteers
- Tuesday, 15 August: 2-Hour Review and Update 11 Child Safe Standards
- Wednesday, 16 August: 2-Hour Review and Update 11 Child Safe Standards
- Tuesday, 22 August: 3-Hour Mandatory Training for New Teachers and Volunteers
- Tuesday, 5 September: 3-Hour Mandatory Training for New Teachers and Volunteers
Read More
If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything related to Child Safety, please contact Ms Neda Erjaei via email at erjaei.neda@communitylanguages.org.au or via phone at 0413 858 842.
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Self Audit Tool:
The Self-Audit Tool 2023 is a self-assessement tool that will assist you in identifying areas of strength and opportunities for improvement in how your organisation implements the 11 Child Safe Standards.
Please take some time to go through this self-assessment tool (Principal and Child Safety Officer need to work on this together), complete it and return it to me at erjaei.neda@communitylanguages.org.au
Instructions:
- Read each statement
- Mark whether the statement is "In Place", "Partially In Place" or "Not in Place" in the relevant columns
Before you send your completed Self-Audit Tool back, make sure you have checked the following:
- All Staff, Volunteers, and Committee Members have a valid and current Working with Children Check card.
- Everyone at your school has signed the NEW 2023 Code of Conduct. You can find it here: Click here to download Code of Conduct
- You've updated all your Child Safety Policies and Procedures: Click here for latest Child Safety Policy on our website (scroll down to Child Safety Resources, Policies and Procedures section): http://www.communitylanguages.org.au/Child-Safe.php
- Make sure you are documenting all incidents, conducting interviews and doing reference checks when acquiring new staff and/or volunteers at your school. We have templates for each of these on our website (scroll down to Child Safety Resources, Policies and Procedures section): http://www.communitylanguages.org.au/Child-Safe.php
- Nominate the Child Safe Officer of your school for each campus on the Self-Audit Tool. This is very important as we need to know who is the CSO in each school/campus. The Child Safe Officer provides advice across the schools on all policies and procedures related to child safety and makes sure everyone at school is aware of new requirements.
- From January 2023, the Commission will expect organisations to have more comprehensively implemented the new Standards.
If you have any questions or need assistance with anything please contact Ms Neda Erjaei via email at erjaei.neda@communitylanguages.org.au or via phone at 0413 858 842.
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