West Australian New Child Protection Standards for Non-Government Schools

New Registration Standards for WA Non-Government Schools – Commencing 1 January 2017

In June 2016 the West Australian Minister for Education released new ‘Standards for Non-Government Schools’ (the Standards) which will take effect from 1 January 2017. The Standards are prescribed by section 159 of the School Education Act 1999 (WA) (the Act). There are now 14, rather than 11, Standards for non-government schools and the West Australian Government in addition to adding three new standards, has significantly revised the current 11 Standards.

In September 2016, the Department of Education Services Non-Government Schools in Western Australia (DES) published the updated Guide to the Registration Standards and Other Requirements for Non-Government Schools (the Guide). The requirements of the Guide will have effect from 1 January 2017, meaning that all non-government schools, not just those due for renewal of registration next year, need to be compliant with the requirements of the Guide. It should also be noted that while DES’ registration standards have always applied to Catholic system schools, the new Guide specifically references them in its introduction.

Non-government schools should be aware of the changes to the 2017 Standards and the Guide and what they mean for their policies and procedures, and ongoing compliance under the Act. To assist in this process CompliSpace has produced a separate briefing paper which discusses the changes included in the revised Guide which do not directly address child protection matters: Revised 2017 WA Non-Government Schools Registration Standards.

New Child Protection Standard

DES has introduced a new Standard 12 – Child Abuse Prevention. Given that Standard 12 is completely new and goes well beyond schools’ current legal obligations, this standalone briefing paper has been developed to avoid these key changes becoming lost in the general registration update.

This paper addresses the information in:

• Standard 12: The arrangements for preventing child abuse at schools and for responding to any such abuse which may occur – as set out in the Act;
• Standard 12: Child abuse prevention – the section of the Guide which explains how schools should comply with Standard 12; and
• Chapter 8 of the Guide: Levels of care – which addresses child protection matters prescribed by section 160 of the Act.

Reading Standard 12 and the Guide, at a minimum, non-government schools in Western Australia will need to take the following actions to ensure compliance by 1 January 2017, if they have not already done so:

• Develop and effectively implement policies, procedures, practices and strategies for the prevention and deterrence of grooming and child abuse, including within boarding facilities if relevant;
• Ensure the governing body is educated in these changes and approves these policies, procedures, practices and strategies;
• Ensure that these policies, procedures, practices and strategies are reviewed annually and updated in light of experience and the publication of relevant research;
• Allocate and document roles and responsibilities to achieve those strategies;
• Develop a Staff Code of Conduct and guidelines on how to comply with the Code which clearly distinguishes between grooming and sexual abuse, providing examples, and clearly delineates the boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate interaction between students, and between students and adults;
• Develop recruitment practices including those relating to assessing commitment to the Staff Code of Conduct and an induction process in the school’s policies and procedures;
• Ensure that annual professional learning is conducted for all staff on the Staff Code of Conduct and the school’s guidelines on how to comply with it;
• Ensure that all staff are trained in the revised Staff Code of Conduct by the beginning of the 2017 school year*;
• Deliver to all students a developmentally appropriate protective behaviours curriculum developed by experts in child protection;
• Provide information to parents and guardians about the protective behaviours curriculum, the Staff Code of Conduct and when, how and who to tell when they have concerns about grooming or child abuse;
• Develop procedures for the detection and reporting of Staff Code of Conduct breaches, grooming and child abuse; and
• Ensure a policy and procedure exists so that the school responds appropriately to allegations of Staff Code of Conduct breaches, grooming and child abuse.

These changes require detailed planning and allocation of appropriate resources within a school to ensure compliance by 1 January 2017.

The Guide states that “it will not be sufficient to demonstrate compliance through a suite of policies, procedures, practices and strategy documents alone. Various evidence or records showing active implementation and review will be required to satisfy the Director General.” With this in mind, the new Standard 12 will require schools to implement cultural change through a Child Protection Program so that protecting children from abuse is embedded in the everyday thinking and practice of leaders, staff and volunteers.

*Note that ‘beginning of the school year’ is not clearly defined within the Guide.

Click here to download the briefing paper.