Child Safe Standards

CHILD SAFETY 

The Victorian Child Safe Standards were updated and expanded on July 1, 2022. Eleven new standards replaced the previous seven, aiming to strengthen child safety practices and cultural changes within organisations

Murrumbeena Primary School is committed to the safety of all children. Every year, our teachers undertake training in Mandatory Reporting and reviewing the Child Safe Standards is a regular item on our staff meeting agenda. 

The Code of Conduct – each adult who visits our school and works with or near the students, is requested to read the ‘code of conduct,’ this is part of our school induction which all volunteers and visitors undertake.  The code of conduct outlines the behavioral expectations we have of adults when in the presence of children.  A copy of the ‘code of conduct’ can be found on our school website under the ‘wellbeing’ tab. 

Teaching Our Children to Be Safe

We provide an environment where our children are safe. As part of our policy, students are involved in a range of activities throughout the year where they learn about personal safety and the strategies to stay safe.   

Activities undertaken across the year include:

• Cyber safety lessons 
• Education & Training Protect resources-  for classroom and home
• Restorative Practices- to resolve issues in a way that restores friendships
• PYP Units of Inquiry
• Health, sexuality and consent education (parents are informed prior to sexual education lessons)
• Resilience and wellbeing strategies

Our senior students tell us that while they participate in lessons about their right to safety with age-appropriate information, we need to be more explicit when speaking about abuse and have more posters informing students who they can speak to. 

An example of a lesson with prep students is about safe and unsafe places, who they can talk to when they feel unsafe and the ‘No.  Go. Tell’ strategy. (That is: say ‘no’ when you have an unsafe feeling, go away from the place and tell an adult you trust). 

How Can Adults Protect Children?  

As adults we play a critical role in protecting children from harm. The link below takes you to  pamphlet for parents and carers, titled ‘Protecting Children from Abuse: For Parents and Carers’.