Child and student empowerment

There are many actions schools may use to address this standard. To get started, review the example actions on this page.

Talk to families and students when developing these policies if it is safe, reasonable and appropriate to do so. For guidance, use Child Safe Standard 4: Family Engagement.

Schools can use these templates to develop the policies:

All schools

• Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy guidance template (DOCX, 448KB)

Government schools

• Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy (login required)
• Complaints Policy template (login required)

Use this checklist to make sure your school is doing everything required to comply with this standard:

• Government schools: Child Safety Action List (DOCX, 110KB)
• Non-government schools: Child Safety Action List (DOCX, 385KB)

Schools must review their child safety and wellbeing policies:

• after any significant child safety incident
• at least once every 2 years.

• Provide age appropriate and accessible information to students such as information about:
  • the school's Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and Code of Conduct.
  • the Charter of Commitment under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
  • the work of the Commission for Children and Young People
  • how the adults in the school should behave.
• Inform students of their rights and special protections including the right to:
  • live and grow up healthy
  • have a say about decisions affecting them
  • get information that is important to them
  • be safe and not harmed by anyone.
• When sharing information under the information sharing schemes:
  • work to build trust by being open and transparent about information sharing and keep the child and family informed each time their information is shared if it is appropriate, safe and reasonable to do so
  • seek and consider the views of the child (or the relevant family members) about sharing their confidential information if it is appropriate, safe and reasonable to do so
• Provide information through the curriculum via relevant subject areas to promote:
  • Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships
  • School-wide Positive Behaviour Support Framework
  • Safe Schools
  • Bully Stoppers
  • Vic SRC's Introduction to Student Voice
  • eSmart.

• Display visually engaging and easy-to-read posters promoting student voice and agency.
• Discuss commitment to student's voice at enrolment and organise orientation activities focused on activating student's voice.
• Conduct year-level meetings and form groups to discuss students' rights and safety issues.
• Invite students to provide feedback on school-wide decisions and take their views into account in school decision-making.
• Document student participation in activities that contribute to the life of the school.
• Involve students in consultation processes and inform them of their impact on decision-making.
• Demonstrate that the school takes students seriously by acting on their concerns. Note that what might seem unimportant to an adult may be important to a young person.
• Become a VicSRC Partner School.
• Provide students who find it harder to speak up or be heard with multiple avenues for communicating. This can include writing, drawing, or physical forms of communication.

• Provide students with information about complaints processes.
• Give students a variety of ways to raise concerns. For example:
  • provide an anonymous, year-level student suggestion box
  • distribute regular online surveys
  • display information about the adults who students can talk to if they have a concern.
• Highlight student views in your school community or public-facing documents, including quoting students where appropriate.
• Create opportunities for all student voices by being aware of discriminatory barriers and any overreliance on the input of student leaders.

• Display posters acknowledging sexuality and gender diversity and identify safe spaces where students can go if they need support.
• Carry out regular whole school wellbeing assessment surveys.
• Use the Bully Stoppers survey tool to assess bullying in your school.
• Establish Student Action Teams to investigate issues of inclusion and exclusion.
• Discuss healthy boundaries for friendships. Point out that the risk of harm can occur in child-to-child interactions, as well as adult-to-child interactions.
• Use school transition programs, like Transition: A Positive Start to School (DOCX, 4.3MB) or Transition – Year 6 to 7, to provide support for students entering the school.
• Provide buddying or mentoring programs for new students transitioning to the school mid‑year or outside of the regular transition timeline.

• Teach students practical protective strategies, including:
  • what to do when they feel unsafe
  • phrases they can use to raise an objection
  • pathways for raising safety concerns, and
  • online safety behaviours.
• Provide contact information for independent child and youth advocacy services or helplines.
• Provide a range of age-appropriate picture books, fiction and non-fiction that include:
  • children's rights and empowerment themes
  • cultural and linguistic diversity
  • neurodiverse characters and people with disability
  • diversity in sexual orientation and gender.
• Support all students to identify trusted adults and friends they can talk to about a concern at school, at home or in the community.
• Deliver age-appropriate curriculum content about respectful relationships, sexuality, consent and sexual abuse prevention. Schools can use the Resilience Rights and Respectful Relationships teaching and learning materials as part of implementing the whole school approach to Respectful Relationships.
• Use the School's Mental Health Menu to support students in your school.
• Empower students with the knowledge that adults are accountable and that students have a right to safety.

• Educate staff to uphold Aboriginal cultural safety and be respectful of identity and culture.
• Train staff and volunteers to facilitate child-friendly ways for students to express their views, participate in decision-making and raise their concerns.
• Educate staff and volunteers about children's rights, including the 4 guiding principles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

• Provide training to staff and volunteers to be attuned to signs of harm and risk factors in students.
• Remind staff and volunteers to recognise that students might communicate in different ways. This includes through verbal and non-verbal cues, play, body language, facial expressions, drawings or behaviours.
• Follow through on your commitments – show students that the leadership team and staff are trustworthy and take their worries or concerns seriously.

• Amplify – Empowering students through voice, agency and leadership (PDF, 2.6MB)
• Bullying Prevention Policy
• Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes
• Equal Opportunity and Human Rights – Students Policy
• Inclusive Student Voice Toolkit
• Information Sharing and Family Violence Reforms Contextualised Guidance and Toolkit
• Resilience Rights and Respectful Relationships
• Safe Schools
• Sexuality and Consent Education
• Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy
• Student representatives on school council
• Transition – Early Childhood to School Policy
• Transition-Year 6–7 Policy

• Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority – Child Safe Standards
• Catholic Education Commission of Victoria – Child Safety
• Independent Schools Victoria

• Bully Stoppers
• Safe Schools
• Student Action Team Manual (PDF, 3.6MB)

• Australian Human Rights Commission | An Introduction to Human Rights and Responsibilities (from Grade 5)
• Australian Human Rights Commission | Child-Friendly Guide to Help Understand Child Sexual Abuse
• Commission for Children and Young People | Empowerment and Participation (PDF, 7.7MB)
• Daniel Morcombe Foundation | Keeping Kids Safe Resources
• National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (PDF, 1MB)
• Student Wellbeing Hub | resources to build safe, inclusive, and connected school communities
• United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child
• VicSRC | Teach the Teacher