Consent and disclosures
at EDSC
Consent, disclosures, duty of care and school obligations
Issues of consent, sexual assault, and gender inequality are critically important and have been in the forefront of mainstream media over the past weeks. Our College in partnership with parents, has an important role to play in addressing this significant social issue.
We stand against gendered violence. The testimonies provided by current and former school students across the country reinforce the need to support students to build and manage safe and respectful relationships.
We have also signed up to the Respectful Relationships initiative and were appointed as a host school for this program a number of years ago. Respectful Relationships is a whole school approach that supports our school to embed a culture of respect and gender equality across our entire school community.
We also teach respectful relationships education as part of the Victorian Curriculum, which focuses on building students’ social and emotional skills by supporting them to recognise and regulate emotions, develop empathy for others and build and manage safe and respectful relationships (including understanding the concepts of consent). Our College provides sexuality education as part of the Health and Physical Education curriculum.
Our College takes sexual assault allegations very seriously. We respond to any disclosures in an appropriate and supportive manner. Any allegations are acted upon quickly by following our procedures for responding to allegations of abuse and assault. We report allegations of sexual assault, as required, to Victoria Police, and Child Protection and the Department of Education and Training as required.
We will provide support to any students who are victim-survivors of sexual assault. Students can receive support from our College Wellbeing Coordinators.
If you have any questions or concerns, or wish to discuss something that has happened, please contact Assistant Principal, Cameron Campbell or our Director of Wellbeing, Michael Colling.
As a parent or carer, if you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault and needs support, please contact 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au.
You can also access help through
Students can access help through
John Roberts
Principal