Implementation of child safety practices

Guidance on Child Safe Standard 11: Policies and procedures that document how schools are safe for children, young people and students.

Schools

To comply with Standard 11, schools must ensure policies, procedures and practices:

incorporate the Child Safe Standards and are implemented effectively
are informed by consultation and best practice
are accessible to all, championed by leaders and understood by those they apply to.

Implementing child-safe practices

This standard focuses on incorporating the 11 Child Safe Standards into school policies, procedures and practices that work together to create a child-safe culture.

Schools should ensure these policies and procedures are:

informed by community consultations so they are relevant to the school
accessible to all
informed by best practice
championed by leaders
well understood by those they appl

Benefits of being a child-safe organisation

Being a child-safe organisation requires ongoing effort.

Schools are safer for children and students when child safety policies and procedures are:

championed by leaders
understood by all members of the school community.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

implement practices for a child-safe environment
establish policies and procedures that meet all the Child Safe Standards
make sure all relevant school staff, governing body and volunteers understand and implement the policies and procedures
champion and model the policies and procedures for a child-safe environment
document their policies and procedures and make them easy to understand
make sure their policies and procedures are informed by best practice models and stakeholder consultation.

Relevant standards

Ministerial Order 1359 – Implementing the Child Safe Standards – managing the risk of child abuse in schools and school boarding premises(PDF, 363KB)
Child Safe Standard 11 – Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.

Implement Standard 11

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Think about actions your school might take

There’s a wide range of actions schools may choose to implement. To get started, review the example actions on this page.

Develop policies that work together to improve child safety

Each Child Safe Standard contains links to policies that schools should develop.

Talk to families and students when developing and implementing child safe policies. For guidance, use Child Safe Standard 4: Family Engagement

Policies and procedures should be informed by stakeholder consultation, which can include:

informal feedback, such as talking with parents when they pick up their children
formal feedback, such as scheduled parent or carer interviews
other feedback processes, such as surveys or focus groups
reviews, such as reviews of your policies and procedures
processes for raising concerns and handling complaints. Child safety policies and procedures should include:
an effective date, review date and approval details
contact details for support
references to related documents
the school’s underlying child safety and wellbeing values and principles
definitions of any specialised terms used
who the policy applies to
responsibilities of leaders, staff and volunteers
how to recognise child harm
how to recognise and report complaints or allegations of child harm
legal reporting obligations
reporting lines (which can be shown by a diagram)
what actions to take if a child or young person is at risk or has disclosed harm
education and training requirements, including frequency.

Take all the necessary actions

Use this checklist to make sure your school is doing everything required to comply with this standard:

Actions required to comply with this standard are listed in the:

Government schools: Child Safety Action List (DOCX, 110KB)
Non-government schools: Child Safety Action List (DOCX, 385KB)

Review child safety policies

Schools must review their child safety and wellbeing policies:

after any significant child safety incident
at least once every 2 years.

Examples of actions for implementing child safety policies and procedures

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Make policies and procedures easily accessible

Publish your child safety policies in an easily accessible, public-facing location, such as the school website.
For all staff and volunteers, integrate child safety into:

induction processes
ongoing education
training
supervision.

Provide copies of your child safety policies in welcome packs and transition resources.

Ensure policies are easy to understand

Use plain language in written materials.
Use visual representations to accompany discussions with students and their families, as needed to aid understanding.
Display easy-to-read posters in various locations around the school.

Nominate a child safety champion

Nominate one or more child safety champions.
Child safety champions promote, monitor and report on the implementation of the school’s child safety strategies.
Support the child safety champions by empowering them to investigate child safety issues. Make sure they have time allocated for child safety.

Build a culture of ongoing monitoring and reviewing

Highlight child safety in recruitment processes.
Have child-focused complaints policies and procedures.
Review recordkeeping of child safety complaints. Make sure it captures all relevant information.
Use the Child Safety Risk Register template to manage child safety risks relating to child abuse.
Consider using the Child Safety Risk Register to include other child safety risks. Schools can also use another register or format to record these risks.

Champion and model compliance with policies and procedures

Allocate regular time for a child safety agenda item for all-staff or faculty meetings.
Schedule child safety briefings at information evenings and orientation days.
Include a regular child safety item in newsletters to families.

Use best-practice models and stakeholder consultation

Seek feedback on policies and procedures from:

the school community
staff
families
students.

Be aware of emerging legislation, research and resources in child safety and wellbeing. Ensure that policies and procedures are informed by any new developments.

Integrate child safety into policies, procedures and practices

Nominate child safety champions to support school leaders in effectively implementing and monitoring the child safe policies and practices.
Document the school’s policies, procedures and statements required across all 11 Child Safe Standards.
Seek feedback from students, families, staff and volunteers on whether the policies and procedures are easy to understand. Make any relevant improvements.
Produce child safety material in different formats. Use child-friendly and plain language and translated versions.
Maintain high visibility of child safety and wellbeing. Discuss child safety at staff and parent meetings, and school assemblies. Display posters, write articles newsletters and staff bulletins on child safety topics.
Train staff and volunteers on school policies and their responsibilities. Create regular opportunities to discuss and reinforce understandings.
Identify formal and informal ways to monitor policy implementation. Analyse whether current processes achieve the outcomes for each child’s safe standard.
Monitor how staff and volunteers contribute to child safety through:

supervision
discussions
staff meetings
surveys.

Resources

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Government schools

Non-government schools

Training resources

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Department resources

PROTECT

External resources

Child Safe Organisations eLearning Modules
Child Safe Organisations website, including the National Principles and Tools and Resources
Child Wise training for Child Safe Organisations and child safety champions
Child Safe Standards | Commission for Children and Young People
Hear no evil, see no evil: Understanding failure to identify and report child sexual abuse in institutional contexts (PDF, 812KB) – a report for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Professor Eileen Munro and Dr Sheila Fish
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (PDF, 1.8MB)

Support

For further help to meet Child Safe Standard 11 and Ministerial Order 1359, contact child.safe.schools@education.vic.gov.au.

Possible next steps

Use this checklist to make sure your school is doing everything required to comply with this standard:

Actions required to comply with this standard are listed in the:

Government schools: Child Safety Action List (DOCX, 110KB)
Non-government schools: Child Safety Action List (DOCX, 385KB)

Read more about implementing all the Child Safe Standards in schools.

Education & training

Updated 26 March 2026

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Implementation of child safety practices

Schools

On this page

Implementing child-safe practices

Benefits of being a child-safe organisation

Actions schools must take

Relevant standards

Implement Standard 11

Examples of actions for implementing child safety policies and procedures

Resources

Training resources

Support

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