Beau-Rock Ballet School Child Safety Policy

Rationale

The Victorian Government and the Beau-Rock Ballet School are committed to the safety and wellbeing of all students. As part of the Victorian Government’s commitment to implementing the recommendations of the Betrayal of Trust report, in 2016 there is a new regulatory landscape surrounding child safety, underpinned by new compulsory Child Safe Standards.

The Child Safe Standards are compulsory minimum standards for all Victorian schools, to ensure they are well prepared to protect students from abuse and neglect.

 

Commitment to Child Safety

All students who attend Beau-Rock Ballet School have a right to feel and be safe. The wellbeing of students in our care will always be our first priority. We are committed to providing a child safe and friendly environment where students feel safe. This policy applies to all staff, volunteers, students and individuals involved in our organization.

This policy is informed by the content of Ministerial Order 870.

 

The Beau Rock Ballet School:

  • Ensures the Child Safe Policy and the Child Safe Code of Conduct apply to all school staff (including volunteers and contractors), visitors and students’ family members with clear behavioral expectations when visiting or working in our school.
  • Provides support and supervision so people feel valued, respected and fairly treated.
  • Has developed a code of conduct to provide guidance to our staff and volunteers, all of whom receive training on the requirements of the code.
  • Require Working with Children Checks (WWCC) or Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) Registration for all relevant positions such as Teachers, Assistant Teachers and Volunteers over the age of 18.
  • Provides clear advice on the website about what to expect if working with or volunteering at Beau Rock Ballet School.
  • Includes detailed child safety information on the ballet school website.
  • Recognises that training and education is important to ensure that everyone in our organisation understands that child safety is everyone’s responsibility. Our organisational culture aims for all staff and volunteers (in addition to parents/carers and children) to feel confident and comfortable in discussing any allegations of child abuse or child safety concerns.
  • Recognises the importance of a risk management approach to minimizing the potential for child abuse or harm to occur and use this to inform our policy, procedures and activity planning. In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our students.
  • Dancing is a physical activity that requires the correct alignment in order to perform the movements safely and with artistry. As a result, there is sometimes physical contact between the teacher or assistant, and the student. The teacher/assistant will ask the student if they approve the contact before initiating. The physical contact is directly related to the correct execution of the movements.

 

Privacy

All personal information considered or recorded will be dealt with in accordance with legal obligation.

 

Legislative responsibilities

  • Failure to disclose: Reporting child sexual abuse is a community-wide responsibility. All adults in Victoria who have a reasonable belief that an adult has committed a sexual offence against a child under 16 have an obligation to report that information to the police
  • Failure to protect: People of authority in Beau Rock Ballet School will commit an offence if they know of a substantial risk of child sexual abuse and have the power or responsibility to reduce or remove the risk, but negligently fail to do so.

 

Reporting a child safety concern or complaint

Beau Rock Ballet School takes all allegations and complaints seriously and will pass these on to the relevant authorities. All members of the community, have a responsibility to report an allegation of child abuse as per the school’s Child Safe Procedures. If an adult has a reasonable belief that a child abuse or neglect incident has occurred then they must report the incident

 

Factors contributing to reasonable belief may include one or all of the below:

  • A child states they or someone they know has been abused (noting that sometimes the child may in fact be referring to themselves)
  • Behaviour consistent with that of an abuse victim is observed
  • Someone else has raised a suspicion of abuse but is unwilling to report it
  • Observing suspicious behaviour.

 

Procedures

The principal of Beau Rock Ballet School has specific responsibility for responding to any concerns made by staff, volunteers, parents or students. Our procedures for responding to allegations of suspected child abuse are outlined in the Child Safety procedures document attached.

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/programs/health/protect/FourCriticalActions_ChildAbuse.pdf

 

Supporting policies or documents:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/protect/Pages/childsafestandards.aspx

 

Reviewing the policy

This policy will be reviewed annually and following significant incidents if they occur.

 

Further Information about child protection services can be found on the Department of Health and Human Services website