Our Commitment to Child Safety

St Matthew’s is committed to child safety. 

We want children to be safe, happy and empowered. 

We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers. 

We are committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of all children.

We have zero tolerance for child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently with our robust policies and procedures.

We have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously. 

St Matthew’s is committed to preventing child abuse and identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks. 

St Matthew’s has robust human resources and recruitment practices to reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing board members, staff and volunteers.

St Matthew’s is committed to regularly training and educating our board members, staff and volunteers on child abuse risks. 

We are committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, the cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability.

We have specific policies and procedures in place that support our board members, staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments. 

Child Safe Standards

The Child Safe Standards provide us with tangible guidance about how to create cultures, adopt strategies and act to put the interests of children first, to keep them safe from harm. Each fortnight, we’ll present one of the standards, and ask you to reflect on how you think we’re addressing the recommendations. 

Child Safe Standard 2: Children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.  

The aim of this standard is for students to speak up and be believed. Children are safer when schools teach them about their rights to be heard, listened to and believed. A child-safe school actively seeks the opinions of children and when doing so, considers their age, development, maturity, understanding, abilities and how they communicate. Students are encouraged and supported to regularly contribute to decisions that affect them. Our aim is to prioritise this standard for child safety in what we say and do:

• Students express their views and participate in decisions that affect their lives.
• The importance of friendships is recognised, and support from peers is encouraged, helping children feel safe and less isolated.
• Students from Kindergarten to Year 6 participate in programs that assist them to deal with unsafe situations. 
• Staff are attuned to signs of harm and facilitate children-friendly ways for children to communicate and raise their concerns.

If we are addressing this standard successfully, we would expect children to say: 

• Teachers at my school listen to me and ask my opinion about things that affect me. 
• I have friends I can talk to.
• I can talk to my teachers if I feel unsafe, even if the conversation is difficult.
• I know that teachers sometimes need to tell someone else if I need extra support. 
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If you have any questions or feedback about how we are addressing this Standard, please email me (petra.cole@cg.catholic.edu.au).