Schools - child safety and wellbeing regulations

1. Replace or review

Since 2016 Victorian schools have had a Child Safety Policy or a Statement of Commitment to Child Safety.

Review your policy or statement and consider renaming it ‘Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy’. See templates and examples in ‘Further resources’.

The Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy must include:

• a commitment to child safety and the actions the school takes to ensure a child safe culture is championed and modelled at all levels
• governance arrangements to ensure implementation
• the roles of the governing authority, principal and other staff
• the governing authority’s process for reviewing the policy.

2. Endorse

The school governing authority must endorse the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy.

Make the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy publicly available. Publish the document in any or all the following ways:

• on the school website
• through regular school newsletters or communications.

3. Implement

Compliant schools:

• endorse and publish a Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
• implement the actions to ensure a child safe culture
• ensure staff and volunteers are familiar with and champion the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
• have a process for the governing authority’s review of child safety practices and maintain records of that review. This could include agendas and minutes of governing authority meetings.

1. Review

Since 2016 Victorian schools have had a Child Safety Code of Conduct.

Review the Child Safety Code of Conduct to ensure it's up to date and consistent with the new Standard. There is guidance and a template that schools can adapt for their circumstances under ‘Further resources’.

The Child Safety Code of Conduct must:

• have the objective of promoting child safety and wellbeing
• provide guidelines for staff and volunteers on expected standards of behaviour
• take into account the needs of all students and be consistent with any relevant profession or occupational codes of conduct
• be consistent with the school’s child safety and wellbeing strategies.

2. Endorse

The school governing authority must endorse the Child Safety Code of Conduct.

For government schools, the school council endorses the Child Safety Code of Conduct. School principal endorsement is not enough.

Make the Child Safety Code of Conduct publicly available. Publish the document in any or all the following ways:

• on the school website
• through regular school newsletters or communications.

3. Implement

Compliant schools:

• endorse and publish a Child Safety Code of Conduct
• make sure staff and volunteers are aware of the Child Safety Code of Conduct
• ensure the expected standards of behaviour are clear
• take into account the needs of all students
• ensure their Child Safety Code of Conduct is consistent with any relevant professional or occupational codes, including the Victorian Teaching Profession’s Code of Conduct
• take action on breaches of the Child Safety Code of Conduct.

1. Replace or revise

Since 2016 Victorian schools have developed and implemented child safety risk management strategies.

There is no mandated approach or template, but schools should have a risk register to identify and manage risks. Guidance and a sample template can be found under ‘Further resources’.

Schools may have stand-alone child safe risk registers, or child safety incorporated within larger school risk registers.

2. Endorse

The school governing authority must endorse the risk register and ensure risk management strategies are implemented.

3. Implement

Compliant schools:

• prevent, identify and reduce child safety and wellbeing risks related to child abuse
• have governing authorities that annually monitor and review risk management strategies and practices
• assess the effectiveness of risk controls on an ongoing basis
• tailor risk management to the activities their school undertakes, and the characteristics and needs of all students.

1. Develop or review

Schools must have a records management policy or statement that details the processes in place to meet Public Record Office of Victoria Recordkeeping Standards for records relevant to child safety and wellbeing.

2. Endorse

The school governing authority must endorse the records management policy or statement.

3. Implement

Create and keep — and do not dispose or destroy — records relevant to child safety and wellbeing. Ensure the school:

• determines which records need to be kept
• establishes and maintains appropriate records management policies and practices
• has full and accurate records of allegations or incidents
• stores and manages records appropriately
• has staff and volunteers that understand information sharing and record keeping obligations.

• There is no Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy (schools can choose a different name for the policy).
• The Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy:
  • is in draft form or is not endorsed by the governing authority
  • is not publicly available
  • contains references to superseded Ministerial Order 870, instead of current Ministerial Order 1359
  • has content that does not cover all the essential requirements set by Ministerial Order 1359, including actions to champion and model a child safe culture, or governance and review arrangements
  • is not championed and modelled at all levels of the school.
• There is little or no evidence of governing authority oversight of child safety and wellbeing. For example, child safety and wellbeing is:
  • not a regular agenda item at governing authority meetings
  • is delegated to one staff member without any governing authority oversight.
• Commitments in the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy are not implemented. An example is a child safety incident not being investigated or reported.

• There is no Child Safety Code of Conduct.
• The Child Safety Code of Conduct:
  • is in draft form or not endorsed
  • is not publicly available
  • is endorsed by school leaders or the principal and not the school governing authority
  • contains references to superseded Ministerial Order 870, instead of current Ministerial Order 1359.
• The Child Safety Code of Conduct does not have clear objectives related to a child safe culture, only a list of unacceptable conduct.
• The expected standards of behaviour in the Child Safety Code of Conduct are inconsistent with the Victorian Teaching Profession’s Code of Conduct, or codes and professional standards for other professions such as psychologists and nurses.
• The Child Safety Code of Conduct does not include expectations for all staff (as defined in the Ministerial Order 1359) and volunteers.
• The Child Safety Code of Conduct is inconsistent with the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy or other policies and procedures.
• The Child Safety Code of Conduct does not account for the needs of all children and students within the school community. For example ‘vulnerable or disadvantaged’ children, which may include:
  • children living with a disability
  • children who are culturally or linguistically diverse
  • LGBTIQ+ children
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
• A school does not act on breaches of the Child Safety Code of Conduct.

• A child safety risk register exists, but:
  • it is copied from another school
  • a template is used that is not tailored to the school’s physical and online environments and student cohort.
• The child safety risk register does not identify risks when students are offsite, for example:
  • camps
  • home stay accommodation
  • arrangements with third parties to deliver courses
  • sporting events
  • excursions.
• Child safety risks are documented in a risk register, but not risk reduction strategies (the things the school is doing or will do to prevent or lessen the risk from occurring).
• A ‘set and forget’ mindset, where there is little or no evidence that child safety risks are periodically monitored and reviewed.
• A risk register exists, but there is little or no evidence that the school governing authority has discussed or reviewed child safety risks and the effectiveness of risk controls within the last 12 months.

• A school does not create or maintain records relevant to child safety and wellbeing incidents or allegations of incidents.
• Inappropriate disposal of records about reporting and investigation of child sexual abuse incidents.
• Induction or training for staff and volunteers does not cover record keeping and information sharing obligations.

Clause 6 of Ministerial Order 1359 aligns to Child Safe Standard 2 and states:

6.1 Schools and school boarding premises must ensure that child safety and wellbeing is embedded in school or school boarding premises' leadership, governance and culture.

6.2 In complying with clause 6.1, the school governing authority or school boarding premises governing authority must, at a minimum:

1. develop, endorse and make publicly available a child safety and wellbeing policy that details:
   1. the commitment of the school or provider of school boarding services to child safety
   2. the actions the school or school boarding premises proposes to take to ensure a child safe culture is championed and modelled at all levels of the school or school boarding premises
   3. the governance arrangements in place within the school or school boarding premises for ensuring implementation of the policy at all levels; and
   4. the process by which the school governing authority or school boarding premises governing authority will review its child safe practices.

   Explanatory notes

   1. Making a policy or statement publicly available will generally mean to make it available on a public website. Where schools or school boarding premises are unable to publish the policy or statement on a website, the school or school boarding premises should consider how children, students and families can best access policies or statements (for example, through other methods such as an online communications platform or for inspection at the school or school boarding premises. In these circumstances, the school community or school boarding premises community must be provided with sufficient information on how to access the content (for example, through regular school newsletter notices or an online parent platform).
   2. 'Governance arrangements' refers to the specific systems, processes, roles, responsibilities and organisational arrangements that each school or school boarding premises puts in place to operationalise the policy.


2. develop, endorse and make publicly available a child safety code of conduct that:
   1. has the objectives of promoting child safety and wellbeing in the school environment or school boarding premises environment
   2. provides guidelines for school staff, school boarding premises staff and volunteers on expected standards of behaviour in relation to child safety and wellbeing
   3. takes into account the needs of all children and students and is consistent with any relevant professional or occupational codes of conduct; and
   4. is consistent with the child safety and wellbeing strategies, policies and procedures of the school or provider of school boarding services.
3. develop and implement risk management strategies that:
   1. focus on preventing, identifying and mitigating risks related to child safety and wellbeing in the school environment or school boarding environment; and
   2. take into account the nature of the school environment or school boarding environment, the activities expected to be conducted in those environments (including the provision of services by contractors or outside organisations), and the characteristics and needs of all children and students expected to be present in those environments.
4. if the school governing authority or school boarding premises governing authority identifies risks of child abuse occurring in the school environment or school boarding premises envionronment, make a record of those risks and the actions that are taken or will be taken to reduce or remove the risks (risk controls and risk treatments).
5. as part of its risk management strategy and practices, monitor and review the risks related to child safety and wellbeing annually, including evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of its risk controls.

   Explanatory notes

   1. School governing authorities or school boarding premises governing authorities may record risks in various ways. Most commonly this would be through a risk register which describes the risks, and the risk mitigation strategies that will be used to manage the risks.
   2. Different risk controls may be necessary for particular groups of children and students depending on the nature of the risk and the characteristics of children and students affected by the risk.
   3. Processes to identify and mitigate risk are covered in various clauses in this Order (see clauses 6.2c, 6.2d, 6.2e, 10.2e, 11.3g, 12.2a and 13.2a). Taken together, these clauses help school staff, school boarding premises staff and volunteers to identify and mitigate risks in school environments and school boarding environments without compromising a child or student’s right to privacy, access to information, social connections and learning opportunities consistent with Child Safe Standard 9.
      
      
6. create, maintain and dispose of records relevant to child safety and wellbeing in accordance with Public Record Office Victoria Recordkeeping Standards, including minimum retention periods.
7. develop a policy or statement that details the processes the school or school boarding premises has in place to meet Public Record Office Victoria Recordkeeping Standards.
8. ensure that school and school boarding premises staff and volunteers understand their obligations on information sharing and recordkeeping.

Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy

Your Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy must include all elements outlined in clause 6.2 (a) of Ministerial Order 1359.

A template for government schools is available to help you develop a Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy. It can also be adapted for non-government schools. If using a template as the basis for creating this document, schools must tailor it to their student cohort and community:

• Develop your school's Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy(opens in a new window)

Child Safety Code of Conduct

Your Child Safety Code of Conduct must include all elements outlined in clause 6.2 (b) of Ministerial Order 1359.

A template for government schools is available to help you develop a Child Safety Code of Conduct. It can also be adapted for non-government schools. If using a template as the basis for creating this document, schools must tailor it to their student cohort and community:

• Develop your school's Child Safety Code of Conduct(opens in a new window)

For more information on Victorian Institute of Teaching guidelines, see:

• Victorian teaching profession's Code of Conduct (PDF 1335 kB)(opens in a new window)

Record of child safety risks (risk register or similar instrument)

Your record of child safety risks must include all elements outlined in clause 6.2 (c), (d) and (e) of Ministerial Order 1359.

A template for government schools is available to help you develop a record of risks. It can also be adapted for non-government schools. If using a template as the basis for creating this record, schools must tailor it to their student cohort and community:

• Develop your school's child safety risk register(opens in a new window)

Records management policy or statement

Your records management policy or statement must include all elements outlined in clause 6.2 (f), (g) and (h) of Ministerial Order 1359 and detail the processes in place to meet Public Record Office Victoria Recordkeeping Standards for records relevant to child safety and wellbeing.

Further information about record management is available at:

• Creating, managing and retaining records for current and future child sexual abuse allegations (PDF 653 kB)(opens in a new window)
• Public Record Office of Victoria(opens in a new window)
• Records Management — School Records (government schools only)(opens in a new window)