Heathmont College is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. Our school community recognises the importance of, and a responsibility for, ensuring our school is a safe, supportive and enriching environment which respects and fosters the dignity and self-esteem of children and young people, and enables them to thrive in their learning and development. 

Expectations for teachers 

All teachers are mandated to report any instances of actual or suspected child abuse. 

There is detailed guidance and support for this on the DET website at https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/protecting-children/policy , The school also has local policies around child safety and you can access these below. 

In addition to the policies, a risk assessment has been completed for child safety in the college and it is important that you familiarise yourself with its contents. You can access a copy of this risk assessment below as well. 

All staff are required to complete the Department's 'Protecting children - reporting and other legal obligations' module on the LearnEd platform on EduPay annually . If you are not sure as to how to find these modules, please let a member of the principal team know and we and support you. 

Support is available for staff around these policies and the processes that sit behind them. If you become aware of a situation in which you believe a child is at risk, please let a member of the principal team or the wellbeing team know and we will walk you through what you need to do.  At a school level, we like you to inform a member of the principal or wellbeing team before taking action to make a report so that the organisation can ensure that the required supports and follow up are enacted however, if it is logistically difficult to do so or there is an urgency that makes this difficult, please take the required actions and inform us as soon as possible. 

Child safe policies 

These can be accessed on our college website here:

Child safe policy at https://www.heathmont.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Child-Safety-and-Wellbeing-Policy-updated.pdf 

Child safety - responding and reporting obligations at https://www.heathmont.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Child-Safety-Responding-and-Reporting-Obligations-Policy-24.pdf 

Child safety - Code of Conduct at https://www.heathmont.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Child-Safety-Code-of-Conduct-updated.pdf 

The following information is provided to support staff with identifying the correct pathway to follow when issues of child safety are identified. This includes when students make a disclosure but also if staff have other reasons to form a reasonable belief that a child is at risk of or experiencing child abuse. 

All staff also must complete the annual Mandatory Reporting module on LearnEd on Edupay and provide the certificate of completion to the Principal, Business Manager or Office Manager. 

Documents and resources regarding identification and response

Anaphylaxis

• Under Ministerial Order 706 — Anaphylaxis Management in Victorian schools (the Order), schools are required to develop a school-level anaphylaxis management policy.

• The Department has developed Anaphylaxis Guidelines to assist schools to meet their duty of care to students at risk of anaphylaxis as well as other legislative requirements. It is recommended that schools refer to these guidelines and comply with all mandatory directions.

• The principal must ensure that school staff are appropriately trained in anaphylaxis management. Under the Order, all staff must participate in a twice yearly anaphylaxis briefing, with the first to be held at the start of the school year. Relevant school staff must also participate in face-to-face or online anaphylaxis training.

Further detail can be found at https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/anaphylaxis/policy 

For our school, 2022 is a year when we need to conduct the training, as per the above guidelines. 

This will involve all staff undergoing the online training module and follow up scenario based assessment. Furth details as to how this will be rolled out will be provided early in 2022. 

In addition to this individual training, the school is also required to provide 2 briefings per year for all staff on Anaphylaxis management. These briefings run through the details contained in the following PowerPoint document. 

Students

Details regarding which students in the school suffer anaphylactic reactions are available on the Staff Room notice board. Please make sure that you check this board regularly and take particular note of any students that you teach (although it is useful to be aware of all students as you may encounter them in the yard). 

An email with photos and details of all students will significant health risks including anaphylaxis will be sent out by admin staff in Term 1 of each year. 

Asthma

• Schools have a responsibility to support students diagnosed with asthma by:

  • having a local school level asthma policy

  • having an Asthma Action Plan and Student Health Support Plan for each student diagnosed with asthma

  • providing their staff with the appropriate level of training (see below for details) regarding asthma management

  • providing and maintaining an asthma emergency kit with equipment to manage asthma emergencies.

• Schools should follow advice and warnings from the Department’s Emergency Management Division associated with a potential thunderstorm asthma event.

Annual asthma briefing for all staff

Schools may wish to conduct an annual asthma briefing at the beginning of the school year on:

• the school's asthma management policy

• causes, symptoms and treatment of asthma

• the identities of students diagnosed with asthma and where their medication is located

• how to use a puffer and spacer

• the school's general first aid and emergency response procedures

• the location of, and access to, reliever medication that has been provided by parents or carers or the asthma emergency kits.

All staff are strongly encouraged to visit the above site and to make themselves familiar with our school's local Asthma policy. 

Further details regarding the government requirements can be accessed here https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/anaphylaxis/guidance/5-staff-training