Child Safe Standards

Safeguarding Our Students

St Thomas the Apostle Primary School is a child-safe school, committed to providing education and care to children and young people to assist them in developing into high-achieving, supported students, positively connected to the communities in which they live and which they will serve.

Our school regards its child safety and protection responsibilities with the utmost importance, and as such is committed to providing the necessary resources to ensure compliance with all relevant child protection laws and regulations to maintain a safe and supportive school physical and online environment for all children and young people.

Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn is committed to complying with Child Safe Standards. We have been working with our schools to meet these requirements.

Our commitment to every student

Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn is committed to keeping children safe in all schools. We have adopted the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Child Safeguarding Commitment, which states:

Our safeguarding approach

Our approach to child safeguarding is outlined in our Child Safety Policy. This policy includes the CECG Commitment Statement, the many aspects of child safety, how we ensure young people are safe, and our compliance with the Child Safe Standards.

Our approach to child safety may be visualised as a ‘web’ or curriculum, with many aspects linking together to contribute to its strength. As a child safe organisation, we strive to understand and follow our legal obligations, use contemporary safeguarding practices and involve all stakeholders – particularly children and families – in safeguarding functions.

Our legal obligations

As a child safe organisation we are required to comply with the Child Safe Standards, the Mandatory Reporting requirements for children in the ACT and NSW, the working with children/vulnerable person schemes and, in the ACT, the Senior Practitioner Scheme.

Parents and carers as partners

We see parents and carers as partners in their children’s educational journey, experience and safeguarding. It is important for us to work together collaboratively to respond to safeguarding concerns, subject to the involvement of other agencies, including child protection and police.

Concerns and Complaints

As a parent and carer you may at times, have concerns or a complaint about matters that occur at school. As a child safe school, we welcome feedback, take complaints seriously, and aim to address these in a timely and respectful manner. 

We strive to resolve most concerns and complaints informally which benefits all parties and allows us to continually improve our practices. Our school’s Statement of Practice – Complaints outlines how St Thomas the Apostle responds to concerns and complaints. This process is underpinned by the Catholic Education Complaints Policy 

Identifying issues early assists students, parents and carers and our staff to resolve these concerns and complaints quickly. Most issues can be handled efficiently and informally through discussions with appropriate staff. Generally, concerns are initially raised with staff working directly with a student; classroom teachers. 

For more complex complaints, the Principal or Assistant Principal will resolve this with you. All complaints will be dealt with fairly, effectively, impartially and confidentially. 

Safe and Supportive Environment

Various policies outline our child-safe approach. These policies may provide you with further information to understand our processes and address your concerns. 

St Thomas the Apostle has developed Statements of Practice which describe our approaches in the following areas: Behaviour Management Statement of Practice and Complaints Statement of Practice. 

Behaviour Management, Suspensions and Expulsions

This policy sets out the expectations and procedures for our schools to support and respond to students exhibiting challenging behaviours. It includes the range of possible responses from behavioural support within schools to restorative and behaviour management options outside of school, in line with ACT and NSW laws. 

Bullying and Harrassment

This policy outlines the obligations and processes for our schools, early learning centres and school-age care to prevent and respond to bullying or harassment involving children and students.

Student Attendance

This policy sets out the requirements and expectations for student attendance and assists St Thomas the Apostle to meet our legal obligations to record and encourage students’ attendance at school. This policy includes the obligations and processes to record student school attendance, respond to attendance issues, consider exemptions or extended leave from school, and maintain appropriate records. 

Enrolment Policies and Supporting Information

You can read more about enrolment policies and supporting information for our ACT and NSW schools here. 

Useful links for families and schools

Safeguarding Our Students information taken from https://cg.catholic.edu.au/safeguarding-our-students/