Support: respond to abuse by an adult engaged by a government 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.
Your actions in support complement your actions in refer. They can happen at the same time if you decide 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.
Matters involving sexual offences
For any concerns or allegations of sexual offences (including grooming), by an adult in the school, the Sexual Harm Response Unit will provide support. They will work with the school and regional health and wellbeing staff. This will help make sure that affected students and their families get the support they need.
This may include creating a student safety and wellbeing plan. This plan helps the student attend school safely. It also considers any triggers and health and wellbeing needs.
Other matters
For matters that do not involve alleged sexual offences, your school can support students in a range of ways.
When your school reports an incident in eduSafe Plus, relevant regional or central services will be notified. They will help your school to arrange support for impacted students and staff.
These services include Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion Workforces. They are made up of regional and area-based education and allied health professionals. They have specialist skills and knowledge to help schools and students with health, wellbeing and learning. Student Support Services are part of these workforces.
Support actions you can take
Identify which support programs, resources and structures are likely to be the most suitable. This depends on the type of allegations and the support students need.
Ensure you document the support offered and implemented to all impacted students. You can use the optional Student Safety and Wellbeing Plan template.
Support available through your school includes:
Planning to ensure impacted students feel safe at school, for example by:
appointing staff contacts for impacted students
minimising the time that a student spends in environments that may be distressing
making safety plans for break times and external events and activities
introducing safe drop-off and pick-up arrangements.
Schools Mental Health Menu: this is a list of programs, staff, and other support from an evidence-based menu. This includes whole-school approaches and individual interventions.
Student Support Group (SSG): this is a team made up of the school, the student, parents or carers and relevant agencies. Together, they support the student’s educational, health, social, cultural and emotional wellbeing.
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 Sexual Harm Response Unit will still help you. They will:
support you to appropriately share this information about the charges with your community
If the investigation finds there is no reportable conduct, the Conduct and Integrity Division will let you know.
Even if there is no reportable conduct finding, you must continue to provide support if you are concerned for a student’s wellbeing.
Note: If the adult in the school is also a parent or carer of a child under the age of 17, you may also need to make a report to Child Protection. Refer torespond to abuse in the family.
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.
