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.
Child Safe Standard 8 focuses on building child safety knowledge, skills and awareness in staff, volunteers and school governing authorities. By delivering tailored training to all staff and volunteers, everyone will share an understanding of:
- what child safety means
- the importance of child safety
- what to look for, and
- what to do.
This provides staff and volunteers with the knowledge and skills they need to create a schoolwide culture of child safety. Appropriate training and supervision helps keep staff and students safe and helps schools meet their child safety and occupational health and safety legal requirements.
At St Brigid's College, staff undertake regular training and professional development, and are equipped with resources on matters relating to child safety. This includes, and is not limited to, annual mandatory reporting training, information sessions on reportable conduct, work shops on Child Safe Standards, and understanding responsibilities under the information sharing and family violence reforms. Other topics include responding to student sexual offending, diversity and inclusion, harassment and bullying and cultural safety.
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, 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 relating to child safe practices, or any other matters.
Student Wellbeing
Last week, we welcomed back members from headspace Horsham, Cass and Ash, to present to and have an open discussion with our Year 8 cohort. They focused on the topics of bullying, social media and staying safe online. Cass and Ash created a supportive environment where our students felt comfortable asking questions and engaging in mature discussions about their experiences on social media.
