Safeguarding our students.
The safeguarding of our students is the top priority for Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn.
Safeguarding is a term used to describe the protection of children and young persons including the vulnerable. This may be due to their age, culture or trauma background, or as they may be at risk of abuse, neglect or exploitation.
St Francis of Assisi is committed to complying with the Child Safe Standards.
Our commitment to every student.
St Francis of Assisi is committed to keeping children safe in our schools. The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Child Safeguarding Commitment can be accessed here.
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 school, we strive to understand and follow our legal obligations, use contemporary safeguarding practices and involve all stakeholders – particularly children and families – in safeguarding functions.
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 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 Francis responds to concerns and complaints. This is currently being updated and will appear on the website soon. 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 or homeroom/pastoral care 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.
To submit a formal complaint, you can email the Principal, or telephone the school and ask to speak to Mr Sean Rutledge.
Some concerns and complaints may be referred to a Senior Officer in the Catholic Education Office to assess the complaint and/or conduct a formal investigation. To make a complaint to the Catholic Education Office at reception@cg.catholic.edu.au.
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 Francis of Assisi is currently developing Statements of Practice which describe our approaches in the following areas:
These policies and practices are underpinned by training provided to our school leaders and staff.
Pastoral Care and Student Wellbeing Policy.
This policy outlines system and school-based practices for pastoral care and student wellbeing. St Francis of Assisi’s Statement of Practice outlines how this applies in our school. This is currently being updated and will appear on the website soon.
Behaviour Management, Suspensions and Expulsion Policy.
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.
St Francis of Assisi’s Statement of Practice – Behaviour Management outlines how this applies in our school. This is currently being updated and will appear on the website soon.
Bullying and Harassment Policy.
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 Francis of Assisi 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.
The Catholic tradition is founded on love. Actually, life itself is grounded in love. We may not always feel this love, but if we allow ourselves to reflect on life, we will realise this truth. We have been called into being by God’s love; and we will only be happy if we live in that love. Thus, when we are directed to love God and love one another, we are not being asked to do something contrary to our nature. Rather, we are being told to live in accord with that nature. We come from God who is love, and so it is in our very nature to love and to be loved.