All staff, volunteers and School Council members of Chum Creek Primary School are required to observe child safe principles and expectations for appropriate behaviour towards and in the company of children, as noted below.

All personnel of Chum Creek Primary School are responsible for supporting the safety, participation, wellbeing and empowerment of children by:

• Adhering to the school’s child safe policy at all times;
• Talking all reasonable steps to protect children from abuse;
• Treating everyone with respect;
• Listening and responding to the views and concerns of children, particularly if they are telling you that they or another child has been abused and/or are worried about their safety or the safety of another;
• Promoting the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal children and children with culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds;
• Promoting the safety, participation and empowerment of children with a disability (e.g. personal care activities);
• Ensuring as far as practicable that adults are not left alone with a child;
• Reporting any allegations of child abuse to the school Principal, and ensure any allegation is reported to the police or child protection;
• Reporting any child safety concerns to the Principal;
• Ensure as quickly as possible that the child/ren are safe if an allegation of child abuse is made;
• Encourage children to ‘have a say’ and participate in all relevant school activities where possible, especially on issues that are important to them.

Staff and volunteers must not:

• Develop any ‘special’ relationships with children that could be seen as favouritism
• Exhibit behaviours with children which may be construed as unnecessarily physical (e.g. inappropriate sitting on laps.  Sitting on laps can be appropriate sometimes, for example, while reading a storybook to a small child in an open plan area)
• Put children at risk of abuse (e.g. by locking doors)
• Do things of a personal nature that a child can do for themselves, such as toileting or changing clothes
• Engage in open discussion of a mature or adult nature in the presence of children (e.g. personal social activities)
• Use inappropriate language in the presence of children
• Express personal views on cultures, race or sexuality in the presence of children
• Discriminate against any child, including because of culture, race, ethnicity or disability
• Have contact with a child or their family outside of school without the Principal’s knowledge and consent (e.g. babysitting)
• Have any online contact with a child or their family unless necessary (e.g. providing families with e-newsletters)
• Ignore or disregard any suspected or disclosed child abuse