Child Safe Standards

Child Safe Standard #1

Strategies to embed an organisational culture of child safety, including through effective leadership arrangements.

Embedding an organisational culture of child safety is critical to reducing the risk of child abuse in schools. Organisational culture can be defined as a set of values, expectations and standards that influence the behaviour of the members of an organisation. The organisational culture defines what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviour by people within the organisation. To successfully embed a culture of child safety, a commitment to zero tolerance of child abuse is led by the school governing authority. This commitment is shared, openly and transparently, by all members of the school community, including staff (school employees, contractors and volunteers), parents and families, visitors and children.