Guidance Counsellors
Commitment to Student Safety and Wellbeing
St Stephen’s Catholic College is committed to being a safe and nurturing community of care, where the rights and dignity of all children and young people are upheld and protected, and where all students have a right to expect that our school will always act to protect them from any kind of harm.
At St Stephen’s Catholic College, concerns or reasonable suspicion we have about a student’s safety and wellbeing or the behaviour of a staff member or volunteer which a student considers to be inappropriate, will continue to be managed in accordance with our Student Protection processes.
All adults have a responsibility to care for children and young people, to positively promote their welfare, and to protect them from any kind of harm. The interactions of Catholic Education staff with students take place in the context of the employee being in a position of trust arising from the nature of their role.
All of our staff receive annual and ongoing training in the area of child protection. Our Student Protection Processes and Guidelines document can be found by accessing the Cairns Catholic Education Website (www.cns.catholic.edu.au), Student Protection page.
Parents and students should talk to the Student Protection Contacts per below, a teacher, or the Principal if there are any concerns about the safety and wellbeing of any student or concerns about the behaviour of a staff member or volunteer which they feel is inappropriate. We take all reports seriously.
Student Protection Contacts
Our Student Protection Contacts for this year are Mr Conwell, Mrs Salerno, Ms Lane, Ms Murat, and Mr Graham.
The Student Protection Contacts email is ssm.studentprotection@cns.catholic.edu.au
The role of the Student Protection Contact is to support students, staff and parents in creating and maintaining a child safe organisation. The protection of children is a shared responsibility where students need to be safe and feel safe.
Student Protection Contacts are identified as a staff member who students can talk to if they are worried about something or are not feeling safe. This includes receiving an allegation or complaint of inappropriate staff behaviour towards a student/s that either the student or you as the parent/carer feels is inappropriate.
This does not relate to normal school processes (i.e. homework allocation, detention etc.), but includes behaviour that breaches the Code of Conduct, including boundary violations directed at or involving a student.
If you have any queries, please feel free to access our Student Protection information via this button on our school website: https://www.sscc.qld.edu.au/schooling-years-7-12/pastoral-care/student-protection-policy/
Peter Graham, Katharina Lane and Havva Murat-Maksuti
Guidance Counsellors