Child Safety and Wellbeing
Child Safe Information
St Brigid’s College holds the care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people as a central and fundamental responsibility. Central to the mission of our Catholic schools in Horsham – St Brigid’s College and Ss Michael & John’s Primary School - is an absolute commitment to fostering the dignity, self-esteem and integrity of children and young people and providing them with a safe, supportive and enriching environment to develop spiritually, physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially.
The Child Safe Standards came into effect in July 2022 and are a vital part of what we do here at St Brigid's College. Each newsletter we will look at a standard in closer detail.
Benefits of empowering students
Empowering children and young people improves child safety. Children and young people are more likely to speak up when they feel respected and confident that they will be heard.
Children and young people benefit from strong friendships. They often see their friends as their main source of support, information and advice, and will go to them for help.
Supporting students to raise concerns about the safety or wellbeing of their friends to encourage students to support their peers.
St Brigid’s College has adopted School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) as a framework that brings together our school community to develop positive, safe, supportive learning cultures. SWPBS assists schools to improve social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes for children and young people, with the outcome being that teachers and students have more time to focus on relationships and classroom instruction.
Our Child Safety Policy details and affirms the standards of behaviour expected for members of the St Brigid’s College community. All of our policies can be found the Policies page on our school website.
Headspace Events
Supporting Student Wellbeing
Last term we welcomed guest speakers from Headspace Horsham, Legal Aid, and Horsham Police to deliver sessions with students from Years 7-11. As part of our Pastoral Care program, these sessions focused on topics including cyberbullying, online safety, consent, drugs and alcohol, stress management, and the law around sexting and consent.
Thank you to presenters, Cass, Anna, Teliah, Karla, and Janelle, for sharing their time and expertise with our students on these important topics.
Teen Mental Health First Aid Training
St Brigid’s College Child Safety Officers are Mr Leigh McDonald and Mrs Chris Rook. They can be contacted on 03 5382 3545 or by email – lmcdonald@stbc.vic.edu.au / crook@stbc.vic.edu.au
Our Policies
All of our policies, including the Safeguarding Children and Young People Code of Conduct, can be found the Policies page on our school website. You can contact the Front Office if you have any queries, or would like to provide feedback, relating to child safe practices, or any other matters.