Child Safety

Child Safe Standard 11: Turning Commitment into Everyday Practice

At St Peter’s College, keeping young people safe is not simply a matter of having policies in place. Child Safe Standard 11 focuses on ensuring that child safety policies and procedures are understood, implemented and embedded in the everyday life of an organisation. Victorian requirements emphasise that policies must address all Child Safe Standards, be clear and accessible, reflect best practice and consultation, be modelled by leaders, and be understood and implemented by staff. 

At St Peter’s, our Child Safety & Wellbeing Policy places the care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people at the heart of our Catholic educational mission. It establishes clear expectations for appropriate behaviour, reporting concerns and responding to incidents, disclosures or suspicions of child abuse. 

Importantly, implementation is an ongoing process. The College reviews its child-safe policies and practices, analyses concerns and safety incidents, maintains a Child Safety Risk Register, and reviews areas including complaints processes, recruitment, accessibility, cultural safety, diversity and inclusion.

Families are also important partners. Our policies are accessible to parents, and families receive child-safety information through our website, newsletters, SPACE, Consent2Go and parent information opportunities.

Child Safe Standard 11 reminds us that child safety is more than a policy. It is a shared commitment demonstrated through what we do every day.