To view this document in downloadable form, click here.
KIS Academics has a child protection policy as our students are mostly high-schoolers under the age of 18, and thus are classified as children in the eyes of the law. It is important that you take your role as a tutor very seriously and understand the responsibility you have teaching your students, regardless of their age. We will take any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously
Our Commitment to Child Safety 👪
KIS Academics 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 tutors.
- We are committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of all children.
- We have zero tolerance of 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.
- Our organisation is committed to preventing child abuse and identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.
- Our organisation has robust human resources and recruitment practices for all staff and tutors.
- Our organisation is committed to training and educating our staff and volunteers on child abuse risks.
- We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and tutors. We are committed to the cultural safety all children from any culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability.
- We have specific policies, procedures and training in place that support our leadership team, staff and tutors to achieve these commitments.
If you believe a child is at immediate risk of abuse phone 000
Our Students
This policy is intended to empower students who are vital and active participants at KIS Academics. We involve our students when making decisions, especially about matters that directly affect them. We listen to their views and respect what they have to say.
We promote diversity and tolerance in our organisation, and people from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds are welcome.
Our Tutors
This policy guides our staff and tutors on how to behave with children in our organisation.
All of our staff and tutors must agree to abide by our Child Protection Policy and Code of Ethics which specifies the standards of conduct required when working with students. All staff and tutors, as well as children and their families, are given the opportunity to contribute to the development of the Code of Conduct.
Training
Training and education is important to ensure that everyone in our organisation understands that child safety is everyone’s responsibility.
Our organisational culture aims for all staff and tutors (in addition to families and children) to feel confident and comfortable in discussing any allegations of child abuse or child safety concerns.
New employees and volunteers will be screened and trained to ensure they understand our commitment to child safety and that everyone has a role to play in protecting children from abuse, as well as checking that their behaviour towards children is safe and appropriate (please refer to KIS Academics’ Code of Ethics to understand appropriate behaviour further). Any inappropriate behaviour will be reported through appropriate channels, including the Department of Health and Human Services and Victoria Police, depending on the severity and urgency of the matter.
Recruitment
KIS Academics takes all reasonable steps to employ skilled people to work with children. We develop selection criteria which clearly demonstrate our commitment to child safety and an awareness of our social and legislative responsibilities.
Our organisation understands that when recruiting staff and tutors we have ethical as well as legislative obligations.
We actively encourage applications from any and all eligible tutors, including Aboriginal peoples, people from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and people with a disability.
All tutors engaged in child-related work are required to hold a Working with Children Check and to provide evidence of this Check. Please see the Working with Children Check website: www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au for further information
Fair procedures for personnel
The safety and wellbeing of children is our primary concern. We are also fair and just to our staff and tutors. The decisions we make when recruiting, assessing incidents, and undertaking disciplinary action will always be thorough, transparent, and based on evidence.
We record all allegations of abuse and safety concerns using our incident reporting form, including investigation updates. All records are securely stored.
If an allegation of abuse or a safety concern is raised, we provide updates to children and families on progress and any actions we as an organisation take.
Privacy
All personal information considered or recorded will respect the privacy of the individuals involved, whether they be in place to ensure any personal information is protected. Everyone is entitled to know how this information is recorded, what will be done with it, and who will have access to it.
Legislative responsibilities
Our organisation takes our legal responsibilities seriously, including:
- Failure to disclose: Reporting child sexual abuse is a community-wide responsibility. All adults who have a reasonable belief that an adult has committed a sexual offence against a child under 16 have an obligation to report that information to the police.
- Failure to protect: People of authority in our organisation will commit an offence if they know of a substantial risk of child sexual abuse and have the power or responsibility to reduce or remove the risk, but negligently fail to do so.
Risk Management
Organisations are required to protect children when a risk is identified, and KIS Academics is no different. In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our students.
We have risk management strategies in place to identify, assess, and take steps to minimise child abuse risks, which include risks posed by physical environments (for example, avoiding tutoring in closed bedroom spaces), and online environments.
Regular Review
This policy will be reviewed every two years and following significant incidents if they occur. We will ensure that families and children have the opportunity to contribute. Where possible we do our best to work with local Aboriginal communities, culturally and/or linguistically diverse communities and people with a disability.
Allegations, Concerns and Complaints
KIS Academics takes all allegations seriously and has practices in place to investigate thoroughly and quickly. Our staff and tutors are trained to deal appropriately with allegations.
We work to ensure all children, families, staff and tutors know what to do and who to tell if they observe abuse or are a victim, and if they notice inappropriate behaviour.
We all have a responsibility to report an allegation of abuse if we have a reasonable belief that an incident took place.
If an adult has a reasonable belief that an incident has occurred then they must report the incident. Factors contributing to reasonable belief may be:
- a child states they or someone they know has been abused (noting that sometimes the child may in fact be referring to themselves)
- behaviour consistent with that of an abuse victim is observed
- someone else has raised a suspicion of abuse but is unwilling to report it
- observing suspicious behaviour.
To view our Incident Reporting document, click here.