Support: respond to abuse by an adult engaged by a independent school
Guidance on how to support students through your school. Support is one of the 4 Critical Actions.
Schools
Any allegation, complaint, disclosure or concern of abuse (including grooming) by an adult engaged by a school is reportable conduct under Victoria’s Reportable Conduct Scheme.
Your school must provide support for all impacted students. This includes students who experienced abuse (including grooming) and others who may be affected. This can mean siblings or friends who know about the abuse or were impacted in other ways. This is an essential part of your duty of care obligations.
Child abuse can cause trauma. It can also significantly impact a child’s health, safety and wellbeing and disrupt their education. You play a central role in:
ensuring the students feel safe and supported at school
meeting their individual educational and wellbeing needs.
Support complements refer. Both actions can happen at the same time if that's the best way to help the student.
Ensure the right staff carry out these actions for all impacted students. Your school’s wellbeing team may lead this work. In some cases, external specialist support may be more appropriate. If wellbeing staff worked closely with the alleged offender, it might not be appropriate for them to support the student.
Engage people and support
Independent schools should follow the procedures outlined in their school policy.
You can reach out to Independent Schools Victoria for help and advice on child safety issues.
ISV Member schools can access a menu of support services through ISConnect.
To ensure the ongoing safety of all impacted students, you can:
appoint contact people for each student
minimise the time that a student spends in environments they find distressing
make safety plans for break times and external events and activities
introduce safe drop-off and pick-up arrangements
talk to students about their safety outside of school.
Support available at your school includes:
Student Support Group (SSG): a team made up of the school, the student, parents/carers and relevant agencies. Together, they support the student’s educational, social, cultural and emotional wellbeing.
Individual Education Plan: a written statement created by the SSG. It shows the changes, goals and plans to support a student’s learning and wellbeing needs.
Schools Mental Health Menu: a list of programs, staff and other support from an evidence-based menu. This includes whole school approaches to individual interventions. The Menu is publicly available. It helps independent schools find effective programs and resources. These are based on evidence to support student mental health and wellbeing.
Behaviour Support Plan: a document that addresses inappropriate behaviour of a student. It outlines strategies to improve their behaviour.
Sometimes, there will be no students at your school who are directly affected. For example, if a staff member is charged with sexually abusing a child that has never attended your school.
In these cases, Independent Schools Victoria can assist you. They will:
support you to appropriately share this information about the charges with your community
Work with school staff with information sharing responsibilities. They can share and request information with other Information Sharing Entities (ISEs) under the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS) where needed. What you learn from other ISEs can help you decide how to support the students.
For example, you may request information about a student from:
their previous school
a community service they have used for health and wellbeing support.
If you do not know which services a child is linked with, ask staff who have access to Child Link. They can check the child’s participation in early childhood and education services. They can also see key family relationships and if the child or their sibling has a past or current child protection order. This can help you find which ISEs to contact under CISS.
It is important to talk to the student about the support they want. This can help them feel empowered and more likely to take part in the process in a positive way.
You can:
hear their thoughts and acknowledge their situation
discuss your concerns about their safety and wellbeing
highlight the support available through your school
help them to explore their options and develop appropriate plans.
Talk to the student in a way that is culturally safe, suitable for their age, trauma-informed and respectful.
