Support: respond to abuse by an adult engaged by a Catholic school

Support students through your school

Your school must provide support for all impacted students. This includes:

students who experienced abuse (including grooming)
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.

When your school makes a report, your governing body will advise you of the next actions.

This could include engaging:

external agencies, see refer
your school’s wellbeing team.

In some cases, external specialist supports may be more appropriate. If wellbeing staff have worked closely with the alleged offender, it might not be appropriate for them to support the student.

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 supports that are 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.
To learn more, see the managing trauma guide.

Matters involving sexual offences

For any concerns or allegations of sexual offences (including grooming), by an adult engaged by the school, the relevant governing body will work with the school. They will ensure impacted students and their families get the right support.

Other matters

For matters that do not involve sexual offences, your school can support students in a range of ways.

Identify which resources are likely to be the most suitable. This will depend on the type of abuse that occurred and the support that the students need.
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
- introduce safe drop-off and pick-up arrangements
- talk to students about their safety outside of school.
Programs and tools
- 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 Catholic schools find effective programs and resources. These are based on evidence to support student mental health and wellbeing.
- Individual Safety/Wellbeing/Management Plan: helps to manage and reduce risk. This is for students who may be a danger to themselves or others, including students who may be at risk of harm. It includes warning signs, coping strategies, and a list of contacts for support. It is usually created by school staff with the student and their family. It may have input from allied health staff.
- Personalised Learning Plans (PLP): assist in the learning and teaching of students with disabilities and additional needs.
- Behaviour Support Plan (BSP): support students to develop positive social interaction skills. This helps them to be a more successful learner and to create a safe learning environment for all.
- Program Support Groups (PSG): connect key stakeholders who know and support the student. They review adjustments described in their PLP or BSP. The group work to establish goals for the student. These goals support the student’s educational, social and emotional development.
- Mandatory Reporting Policy: teachers and other professionals must report any suspected child abuse or neglect to authorities. This policy outlines the required actions. It ensures all Catholic school staff know and follow their reporting obligations. This protects the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.
- Mental health and wellbeing toolkit: advice to help support student mental health and wellbeing.
- Be You consultants: features professionals in education and mental health. They help schools implement strategies for improved mental health and wellbeing.
- Be You programs directory: a searchable database. It lists external mental health and wellbeing programs for schools.
- School referral pathway: school-based document that outlines the referral pathway to support students.
Contact your governing body for more advice on other relevant supports.
When supporting a student, pay attention to their individual circumstances. Some children or young people may experience increased vulnerability.
Consider all the experiences and needs of the student and their parents or carers.
This includes supporting:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
- students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- international students
- students with disability
- LGBTIQA+ students
- students in out-of-home care.
See, supporting students with diverse needs.
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
- see key family relationships
- see 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.
To share information safely and appropriately, follow the guidance for staff who use CISS and FVISS.

Continue support for as long as necessary

Your school should continue to:

provide these types of support to the student
monitor the situation
continue to follow the 4 Critical Actions to respond to new information or risks.

Work with the student, their parents or carers, and any relevant authorities and specialist support services.

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 who has never attended your school.
In these cases, the relevant governing body will still assist you. They will:
- support you to appropriately share this information about the charges with your community
- help you make sure that students are supported.
For more information, see protecting children – reporting and other legal obligations.

Next steps

Continue the 4 Critical Actions

When providing support, also refer students to community services.

⬣ Identify ▲ Report ● Support ■ Refer

Check with your school's governing body on when to take these steps.

Education & training

Updated 12 May 2026

Schools

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