From the Principal

Marilyn Smith

Principal

Safeguarding Children

As many families may know, during the last fifteen months Preshil has undertaken an intensive process to achieve accreditation with the Australian Childhood Foundation, through the Safeguarding Children program.

This program has been taken up by many organisations, including an increasing number of schools, who want to maintain the very highest standards possible in every aspect of their governance and operations to ensure the safety, protection and empowerment of children, to guard them against the possibility of child abuse. This program gives organisations a very rigorous framework to ensure these standards are met.

Our society, including Preshil, has had to face and come to terms with the collective past failure to protect children. We carry the shame all adults must share in having allowed these crimes to occur. The damage to countless lives has been immeasurable and has required a radical change in attitudes and practices.

The Safeguarding Children accreditation process has made significant demands on everyone at Preshil and will continue to do so. It is not a simple overlay of rhetoric to meet compliance standards.

There are seven strands to the program:

• Commitment to Safeguarding Children – This requires the School Council to fully understand and endorse all school policies relating to the safety of children.
• Personnel Roles and Conduct – All role descriptions, codes of conduct, practices and behaviour need to meet exemplary standards.
• Recruitment and Screening – Recruitment, selection and identity checks of all staff need to be rigorous and proactive in building exemplary practice.
• Personnel Induction and Training – All staff, including Council members, contract, general and part-time staff need to be trained to meet exacting standards of knowledge and practice.
• Involving Children and Parents – A proactive and ongoing set of programs that builds students’ confidence and understanding of their own safety, their rights and ability to articulate their concerns and needs, supported by parents and teachers.
• Child Abuse Reports and Allegations – Processes for recording and reporting allegations or instances of abuse.
• Supporting a Child Safe Culture – Coordinating, monitoring and continually improving our child safe culture.

We have been supported by a dedicated advisor from the Australian Childhood Foundation and crucially, through the leadership and hard work of our Wellbeing Coordinator, Clare Coman, who has approached the program with commitment and determination to achieve the highest standards for the School.

The Safeguarding Children program does mean proactive adherence to changed practice and that is not without extra effort as well as some loss of a casual and relaxed approach to interactions between children and adults. Vigilance, forethought and rigour have required greater regulation, meticulous risk assessments and clearer professional boundaries. All institutions have paid the price for the criminals who were able to prey on the vulnerable - and the greater limits on our freedoms are the inevitable by-products.

I am sharing this with parents to offer some insight into the demands we place on our exceptional staff, but more importantly to strengthen the partnership between the School and families. It is only when every student has a deep seated confidence in their own agency, their rights to question, challenge, refuse and disclose their interactions with adults, that the full impact and the fundamental reason for such a program can be judged a success.

As always, I am happy to talk with parents about this and any other element at Preshil, which supports the wellbeing and safety of our students.