School Law: Child Protection, Whistleblowers & Family Breakdown
Examine your school’s child protection obligations, the legal risks involved, and how to design and implement child safe risk management, controls and reporting. Identify your school’s employment law requirements related to whistleblowers and the policies you need to implement to meet your legal obligations. Gain a practical guide to the many legal risks arising from a family breakdown and what your school must do to navigate these difficult and fraught situations.
Description
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Chair: Henry Grossek, Principal, Berwick Lodge Primary School
9.00am to 9.10am: Opening Address by the Chair
School leaders have been under enormous pressure since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. As each week passed the impact of decisions made on staff and families increased in various ways. Take this opportunity to reflect on the impact of working remotely for schools and how that may contribute the various types of risks that schools will confront in the future.
9.10am to 10.05am: Family Breakdown Risks: Family Law, Urgent Family Violence Orders, and Children’s Court Scenarios
- What you need to do to comply with Family Court rules: processes and strategies to provide effective management of court orders
- Family Violence and Intervention Orders and the newly established list to fast track applications
- Parental rights to information when court orders are on foot and when they are not
- What you need to know about the operation between the Family Court, the Children’s Court and Intervention Orders
- What you need to know about responding to subpoenas
Presented by Rebecca Dahl, Partner, Nicholes Family Lawyers
10.05am to 10.15am: Break
10.15am to 11.05am: Supporting Whistleblowers: Your Risk Backstop
Is your school ready to support whistleblowers? Whether or not your school is one whose policy must comply with the requirements set out in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Act 2019, you will learn about:
- The main changes to the law
- How to implement a workplace policy and what it should include
- Practical tips for training staff on whistleblower protections
- What to do if a disclosure is made, including conducting an investigation, employer obligations on reporting the misconduct, how to deal with the whistleblower and victimisation
Presented by Cecelia Irvine-So, Partner, Moores
11.05am to 12.05pm: Managing Child Protection Risks in Your School
- Source of child safe risk management obligations
- Design of a Child Safe Risk Framework
- Child safe risk hierarchy
- Examples of common child safe risks and controls
- Child safe risk management reporting
Presented by Nick Duggal, Partner, Moray & Agnew
12.05pm to 12.15pm: Final Q&A and Closing Comments by the Chair
For Teachers:
Attend and earn 3 Professional Development Hours (NSW)
Completing this conference will contribute 3 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority PD addressing 6.2.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW
Attend and earn 3 CPD points (QLD, WA, SA)
Attending this conference will contribute 3 hours of CPD addressing the standards as listed from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining teacher registration
7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements: understand the implications of, and comply with, relevant legislative, administrative, organisational and professional requirements, policies and processes.
Attend and earn 3 hours of PD (VIC)
Attending this conference will contribute 3 hours of PD addressing the standards as listed from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining
Proficient Teacher registration in Victoria.
7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements: understand the implications of, and comply with, relevant legislative, administrative, organisational and professional requirements, policies and processes.
For Lawyers:
Attend and earn 3 CPD units in Substantive Law