Health & Safety message from Principal

We recently had cause to review our policy around parents/caregivers on 

site at SKC and I feel it is timely to remind our community of the process around being here at school. We need to be clear, we welcome parents and caregivers into our school community, but at the same time we do need to be mindful of relevant Health and Safety concerns, protection for our professional teachers, and our students and parents under the Vulnerable Children’s Act of 2014.

Day to day interactions where parents need to come to the school are to be done through either the school office or the hostel offices. This involves the parent / caregiver reporting to the relevant office and waiting there until the student is able to see them. This is usually the case with students needing to be picked up, delivered lunch or lost bags etc.

If a parent or caregiver wishes to observe a student in a class, or the curriculum being delivered, they need to make an appointment in writing with the relevant teacher and Head of Faculty. They will then discuss the circumstances of what is being delivered in the curriculum, the aims and objectives of the class and what behaviours they are wanting to observe. The parent or caregiver will then be accompanied by a senior manager to observe the class, and a follow up meeting will be scheduled to discuss the results. In this way the teacher is not placed in the position of having to challenge adults who come into their class, or having to decide whether to place the school in lockdown. The students are protected because they know when to expect their parents to come into the class and the visiting adults are protected from claims of impropriety or breaching restraining orders etc.

In a secondary environment where we are dealing with large numbers of adolescent students, our duty of care obligates us to wrap process around the movement of adults on and off the campus. While we are blessed with open spaces and a positive community, we cannot be naive around the possibilities for issues to occur. We welcome parents and caregivers to be part of our community but we need to do this in a sensible manner. 

Paul Olsen, Principal