Child Safety

Child Safety at St. Peter’s College:

“Promoting a safe and nurturing culture for our young people“.

This statement is intended to provide the central focus for child safety at St. Peter’s College. It is built around a unified understanding of the moral imperative and overarching commitment that underpins our drive for improvement and cultural change.

The Catholic school sets out to be a school for the human person and of human persons. ‘The person of each individual human being, in his or her material and spiritual needs, is at the heart of Christ’s teaching: that is why the promotion of the human person is the goal of the Catholic school’. (Congregation for Catholic education 1997, par. 9)

The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd (CECV) holds the care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people as a central and fundamental responsibility of Catholic Education. This commitment is drawn from, and inherent to, the teaching and mission of Jesus Christ, with love, justice and the sanctity of each human person at the heart of the Gospel. The CECV has a universal expectation for the protection of children. It is resolutely committed to ensuring that all those engaged in Catholic Education in Victoria promote the inherent dignity of children and young people and their fundamental right to be respected and nurtured in a safe school environment. This is particularly so for the most vulnerable children, including indigenous children, those from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and children with a disability.

We at St. Peter’s College have a moral, legal and mission-driven responsibility to create a nurturing school environment where:

• Children and young people are respected
• Their voices are heard, and
• They are safe and feel safe

We at St. Peter’s College commit to the following:

• When allegations of abuse concerning children and young people are raised, St. Peter’s College will take prompt action to have these appropriately referred and investigated
• Strive for continual improvement that is responsive to emerging thinking, evidence and practice, so as to eliminate the possibility of abuse occurring in the first place
• Display an understanding of the important and specific role staff play, individually and collectively, to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all children and young people and action this in our daily interactions with the students in our care