Suitable staff and volunteers

For the official wording, refer to:

• Ministerial Order 1359  (PDF, 363KB) – Implementing the Child Safe Standards – Managing the Risk of Child Abuse in Schools and School Boarding Premises
• Child Safe Standard 6 – Full text from the Commission for Children and Young People
• Compliance guidance – Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA)

For more practical guidance:

• Standard 2 and Standard 7 cover recordkeeping, information sharing and reporting.
• Standard 8 covers training and support.

All schools:

• Child safety and wellbeing policy - guidance and template (DOCX, 448 KB)

Government schools:

• Recruitment in schools
• Reportable conduct
• Suitability for employment checks
• Visitors in schools
• Visitors policy template (login required)
• Volunteers in schools
• Volunteers policy template (login required)
• Working with children and other suitability checks for school volunteers and visitors

When writing job ads for roles that involve working with children, include:

• requirements for child safety and wellbeing:
  • knowledge of child development appropriate to the role
  • duties and responsibilities related to child safety and wellbeing
  • essential or relevant qualifications, experience and attributes.
• links to:
  • your school’s child safety and wellbeing policy
  • your school’s child safety code of conduct
  • key child safety resources.

• Include selection criteria relevant to the role, such as experience in:
  • working with children
  • working with children with a disability
  • working with Aboriginal children
  • engaging with families
  • child safety
  • supporting cultural safety.
• Screen all staff, volunteers, leaders and members of the governing board.

• Choose interview panel members with the right skills and knowledge.
• Include questions about child safety in all interviews.
• Check referees for staff and volunteers, including their last employer.
• Contact overseas referees if the person has worked overseas.
• Ask referees about their character.
• Ask referees about their experience in working with children and young people.

• Do a risk assessment to decide how much supervision is needed (see Standard 9).
• Make sure school leaders regularly walk through classrooms and the yard.
• Include performance expectations about child safety in staff contracts and professional development plans.
• Talk about child safety and wellbeing in staff meetings Cover:
  • signs of grooming and or harmful behaviour (government schools can use this staff conduct case study – login required)
  • what staff must report
  • how to respond to incidents, disclosure or suspicions of child abuse­
  • risks in physical and online spaces, and how to report them.
• Communicate often with staff and volunteers about child safety and wellbeing.
• Promote the school’s child safety and wellbeing policy and code of conduct in newsletters and staff updates.
• Observe staff working with students and provide regular feedback.
• Nominate a child safety champion or assign staff to each standard.
• Show leaders how to manage unsafe staff behaviour. Include:
  • when to escalate concerns
  • what records to keep
  • how to follow up and monitor behaviour.
• Act early to address concerning or unsafe conduct.
• Keep clear records about staff conduct and concerns.
• Make sure staff and volunteers who use Child Link meet the requirements, and follow guidelines and terms of use.
• Notify the Department of Education if a user’s access needs review at ChildLink@education.vic.gov.au.

• See Standard 8 for building child safety knowledge, skills and awareness.
• Nominate a child safety champion to help run induction and training.
• Run induction on:
  • the child safety and wellbeing policy
  • the child safety code of conduct
  • identifying and reducing risks
  • recordkeeping and information sharing
  • school values and philosophy
  • how your school handles complaints
  • privacy and reporting.
• Give new staff a mentor for their first year.
• Train staff and volunteers on key topics such as:
  • child safety, including family violence
  • mandatory reporting
  • how to respond to student sexual offending
  • human rights and children’s rights
  • diversity and inclusion
  • harassment and bullying
  • cultural safety
  • privacy and information sharing.
• Include these topics in child safety training:
  • risk factors and signs of harm
  • identifying and responding to risks, especially for vulnerable students
  • supporting students to speak up
  • working with families to support safety and wellbeing
  • managing sensitive information safely.
• Provide regular briefings about child safety through meetings or updates.
• If your school is large, you might use teams in each sub-school or champions to observe staff practice.
• Tell staff and volunteers about their responsibilities under the Information Sharing and Family Violence Reforms.

• Consider involving students in recruitment, when appropriate. This gives them a say about decisions that affect them.
• Write clear role descriptions for staff and volunteers.
• Include duties for supervision, child safety, wellbeing and inclusion in role descriptions.
• Review and update role descriptions as needed.
• Make sure all staff are aware of the current reporting process.
• Give child safety champions information they need on child safety, family violence and information sharing.
• Check Working with Children Checks (or equivalent) at least once a year.
• Include child safety in in how you support and supervise staff, including performance reviews.
• Align complaints processes with the PROTECT 4 Critical Actions and reportable conduct requirements.
• Declare and manage any potential conflicts of interest.
• Provide clear ways for staff to report concerns.
• Involve staff in reviews after child safety incidents.

• Alcohol at school events policy
• Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes
• Child protection privacy and information sharing policy
• Duty of care policy
• Information Sharing and Family Violence Reforms: Guidance and Tools
• Privacy and information sharing policy
• Protecting children - reporting and other legal obligations policy
• Recruitment in schools policy
• Supervision of students policy

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

• Protecting children: reporting and other legal obligations - eLearn training
• Spotting the Warning Signs of Child Abuse: For School Staff
• Training for the information sharing and MARAM reforms

• Commission for Children and Young People
• Child Safe Organisations e-learning modules