Child Safe Policy

Under the Child Safety and Wellbeing Act, Victorian organisations that provide services to children are required to implement compulsory child-safe standards to protect children from harm.

Songbirds Studio (Songbirds) has prepared this Child Safe Policy to demonstrate our commitment to child safety and to promote the importance of ensuring a safe environment for the children in our care. The safety of children is of fundamental importance to Songbirds and we have zero tolerance for all forms of child abuse.

This document demonstrates Songbirds is compliant with Child Safe Policies & procedures. For more information, see A Guide for Creating a Child-safe Organisation produced by the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) available at www.ccyp.vic.gov.au

Commitment to child safety

Songbirds is a Child Safe organisation. As a school, we are committed to, and focused on, providing a safe community for all students and family members at all times. We want our students to feel safe, supported, respected, happy, empowered and at the same time, have fun.

The welfare of the children in our care will always be our first priority and we have a zero tolerance to child abuse. This policy effective 1 January 2021, demonstrates the strong commitment of the owner and staff to child safety and provides the policies and practices developed to keep everyone safe from any harm, including abuse. It applies to all staff, volunteers, children and individuals involved in our school.

Children’s rights to safety and participation

Songbirds staff encourage children to express their views. We listen to their suggestions, especially on matters that directly affect them. We believe the ‘Voice of the Child’ is important and actively encourage all children to ‘have a say’ about things that are important to them.

We teach children about what they can do if they feel unsafe. We listen to and act on any concerns children, or their parents/carers, raise with us.

Risk Management

Songbirds proactively manages risks and has a risk management framework and policies in place to identify, assess and mitigate risks to children in our care. Our risk management policies cover the management of risks, such as occupational health and safety risks and risks of child abuse to children.

Reporting a Safety Complaint, Allegation or Concern

Anyone is able to raise a complaint, allegation or concern about our organisation’s child safety practices. We treat all complaints, allegations or concerns raised with our organisation very seriously and respectfully. Nominated staff members have been trained to deal with allegations of abuse. If Songbirds receives an allegation of abuse, our trained staff will investigate that allegation thoroughly and in a professional manner. We are committed to ensuring that the appropriate authorities are notified where we are concerned about the safety, abuse or potential abuse of children.

Valuing diversity

We value diversity and do not tolerate any discriminatory practices. To achieve this we:

promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal children and their families
promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and their families
welcome children with a disability and their families and act to promote their participation
seek appropriate staff from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Our teaching staff commitment to child safety

Please know that all of our Songbirds teachers comprehend and actively endorse our child safety policy and are passionate about providing a safe and fun environment for all students, where each and every student in their class feels supported and empowered. (See our Teacher’s Code of Conduct below)

Songbirds applies the best practice standards in the recruitment and screening of staff. We interview and conduct referee checks on all staff and require current Working with Children Checks for all positions. Our commitment to Child Safety and our screening requirements are included in all advertisements.

All Songbirds students and families may advise via email if they have any concerns regarding a teacher or if they believe a teacher has breached their code of conduct.

Teacher’s Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct outlines appropriate standards of behaviour by adults towards children. The Code of Conduct aims to protect children and reduce any opportunities for abuse or harm to occur. It also helps staff and volunteers by providing them with guidance on how to best support children and how to avoid or better manage difficult situations. All staff and volunteers are required to comply.

All Songbirds staff and volunteers are responsible for promoting the safety and wellbeing of children and young people by:

adhering to our Child Safe Policy, and other policies
taking all reasonable steps to protect children from abuse
treating everyone with respect, including listening to and valuing their ideas and opinions
welcoming all children and their families and carers and being inclusive
respecting cultural, religious and political differences and acting in a culturally sensitive way
modelling appropriate adult behaviour
listening to children and responding to them appropriately
reporting and acting on any breaches of this Code of Conduct, complaints or concerns
complying with our guidelines on physical contact with children
working with children in an open and transparent way – other adults should always know about the work you are doing with children
respecting the privacy of children and their families, and only disclosing information to people who have a need to know.

Songbirds staff and volunteers must NOT:

seek to use children in any way to meet the needs of adults
ignore or disregard any concerns, suspicions or disclosures of child abuse
use prejudice, oppressive behaviour or language with children
engage in rough physical games
discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, culture, vulnerability or sexuality
initiate unnecessary physical contact with children or do things of a personal nature that children can do for themselves, such as toileting
develop ‘special’ relationships with specific children or show favouritism through the provision of gifts or inappropriate attention
exchange personal contact details such as phone number, social networking site or email addresses with children
have unauthorised contact with children and young people online or by phone.

All teachers have read this Code of Conduct and agree to abide by it at all times.

As part of the screening and recruitment process, an applicant must provide Songbirds appropriate evidence to show that they are suitable to work with children and young people in a safe environment. This includes:

Working with children's check (WWCC)
Current First Aid and CPR
Appropriate / high level of music experience
Appropriate music teaching experience
Communication and organisation skills
Lesson planning experience

Reviewing this policy

This policy will be reviewed every two years and we undertake to seek views, comments and suggestions from students, parents, carers and staff.

https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/child-safe-standards/the-seven-standards-and-the-child-safe-principles-2/

Policy updated December 2022

Revision: December 2024