New Child Safe Standards 

New Child Safe Standards to strengthen child safety will commence in Victoria on 1 July 2022. The Child Safe Standards (the Standards) commenced in Victoria in January 2016. After five years, the State government has seen how the Standards improve safety for children and young people. Changes are being made to make the Standards even stronger. 

The new Standards set out minimum requirements and outline the actions organisations must take to keep children and young people safe. They provide more clarity for organisations and are more consistent with Standards in the rest of Australia. The things organisations already do to keep children and young people safe will help them be compliant with the new Standards. 

 What will be different? 

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.

The College will continue to share updated information about the Child Safe Standards across semester 2. At Edgars Creek Secondary College, Chantelle Gianinotti is our Child Safe Champion. Chantelle is also our Student Wellbeing Coordinator and has been with the College since we opened in 2018.