School Law: Your Complete Guide to Policy, Risk, Family and Student Issues
With Schools dealing with an increasing number of thorny legal and regulatory issues, don’t miss your chance to benefit from 6 practical sessions across governance, policy writing framework, risk management, difficult parents, social media, and managing students with disabilities. In an environment where processes, statutes and policy keep you safe, walk away feeling confident handling the unique challenges that working in education brings. 236N01
Description
For Teachers:
Attend and earn 6 Professional Development Hours (NSW)
Completing this conference will contribute 6 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
For Lawyers:
Attend and earn 6 CPD units including:
5.5 units in Substantive Law
0.5 unit in Professional Skills
This program is based on NSW legislation
PLUS! The conference will be directly followed by a Networking Drinks Reception for the in-person delegates.
Session 1
Governance, Policies and Risk Management
Chair: Amanda Smith, Director of Human Resources, Ravenswood School for Girls
9.00am to 9.05am Opening Comments by the Chair
9.05am to 9.50am Whistle Blower Protections
- An overview of the whistleblower legislation including a summary of 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 Jonathon Corlett, Partner, Thomson Geer
9.50am to 10.35am Compliance Policy Writing Frameworks through the Lens of Oyston v St Patrick’s College Campbelltown, 2011
Using the Oyston v St Patrick's College (No 2) [2013] NSWCA 310 bullying case as a lens, you will examine:
- What should be included (policies or otherwise)
- Complaints handling within a compliance framework:
- The policy
- The forms
- The process for submission and response
Presented by Kristen Lopes, Partner, Colin Biggers & Paisley
10.35am to 10.50am Morning Tea
Professional Skills
10.50am to 11.35am Gaining Practical Tips for Implementing Risk Management Systems in Your School
- What is risk management and why is it important?
- Helpful risk concepts to understand and use
- Risk management ‘blockers’ and how to overcome them
- How to write a risk assessment
- Examples of risk assessments that are done well and those that are not
Presented by Jonathan Oliver, Principal Consultant, Risk and Compliance, Complispace
11.35am to 12.20pm Ask the Lawyers: Practical Q&A Break-Out Session
Take advantage of more Q&A time with a panel of legal experts and have your specific questions and concerns addressed.
Panel includes:
Julie Kneebone, Special Counsel, Workplace, Sparke Helmore Lawyers
Jennifer Parkes, Partner, Hicksons Lawyers
Samantha Hayek, Legal Counsel, Sydney Catholic Schools
12.20am to 12.30pm Final Q&A and Closing Comments by the Chair
Session 2
Student and Family Issues
Chair: Brad Swibel, Deputy Head of School, St Andrew’s Cathedral School
1.15pm to 2.15pm Schools and Aggressive Parents
- Tips on how to handle the types of issues that can arise:
- Parent vs parent: how do you choose a side?
- Parent vs student: bullying or inappropriate behaviour
- Parent vs staff member: how to protect staff from abuse
- Parent vs school: when allegations are made
- What are the school's obligations? Your duty of care, child protection legislation, work, health and safety law and discrimination law
- What are your school's rights? Inclosed Lands Protection Act 1901, defamation, criminal offences and AVOs
- What are the parents' rights and obligations? General law and the enrolment contract
- Guidance for dealing with problematic parents
Presented by Sonya Parsons, Partner, Mills Oakley
2.15pm to 2.45pm Students and Social Media: What is the Extent of Your School’s Responsibility?
- What are the legal consequences of technology misuse in schools?
- Avoiding misuse of technology by students
- Appropriately dealing with online incidents
- Sensitive content and cyber-bullying
- Online sexual predators and students who initiate these behaviours
- Social media use outside of school hours: Is there a duty of care?
Presented by Jacquie Seemann, Partner, Thomson Geer
2:45pm to 3.15pm Defamation and Social Media
Presented by Michael Waterhouse, Mediator and Lawyer, Waterhouse Mediation
3.15pm to 3.30pm Afternoon Tea
3.30pm to 4.30pm The Rights of Students with Disability to Access Education: Schools Working Together with Students with Disability and their Families
- What is disability and how does Australian discrimination law apply to education providers?
- What can schools do to support students with disability to access education?
- Participation in courses and programs
- Access to services and facilities, for example, assessment tasks, school excursions, camps, performances and concerts
- Practical tips on providing an accessible and inclusive curriculum and general and specialist support (e.g. specialised teachers and interpreters)
- A summary of the work of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, as it draws to its end, and the implications of this for schools
Presented by Rebecca Haynes, Senior Lawyer, Casual Legal Academic practicing in the areas of Education Law, Human Rights, Disability, Administrative Law and Child Protection
Presenters
Amanda Smith
Amanda Smith is the Director of Human Resources at Ravenswood School for Girls. Amanda has worked in the education sector for over 15 years. Prior to joining Ravenswood, Amanda worked at the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations and AISNSW. Amanda has significant experience in the education and other sectors. Her experience assisting schools includes: negotiating and drafting enterprise agreements and multi enterprise agreements; representation in industrial disputes; complex and sensitive workplace investigations; child protection; privacy; large-scale recruitment; management of the employee life cycle, workplace mediation; complex workplace injury claims; staff training; critical incidents and drafting and implementation of workplace policies and procedures.
Jonathon Corlett
Jonathon Corlett has worked in the field of industrial relations since 1996. He has in-depth knowledge of public and private sector employment regulation. Jonathon and his team at Thomson Geer advise on individual and collective employment relationships from recruitment to termination and beyond. His clients operate in a broad range of industries and sectors, and include a large number of true start-ups and international businesses establishing their presence in Australia for the first time. An experienced litigator in employment and industrial relations, he acts in discrimination, unfair dismissal and breach of contract claims; industrial disputes; and prosecutions for breach of industrial and workplace safety laws. He looks for commercial and non-litigious solutions where possible.
Jonathan Oliver
Jonathan Oliver has been a lawyer in NSW since 1986 and worked in private practice (initially in general practice, and later a specialist family lawyer) and then in community legal centres. He was more recently a business manager at an independent school in Sydney for 10 years. Now senior consultant with CompliSpace and lead consultant in enterprise risk and compliance.
Jennifer Parkes
Jennifer is a litigation lawyer, with over 10 years’ experience, who specialises in workers compensation, education and discrimination matters. She has an extensive experience in preventing and resolving legal issues with a core focus on discrimination in the tertiary education sector. Discrimination complaints are delicate matters which can lead to protracted and often complicated cases and Jennifer’s experience and thorough approach allows her to address matters in the most effective way and provide practical settlement advice to her clients. In most cases, Jennifer is able to negotiate an alternative resolution to the dispute, avoiding the need for litigation and preserving her clients’ reputation while minimising their risk exposure. In addition to her expertise in education, Jennifer has an excellent technical knowledge of the legislative and strategic demands of claims management in discrimination and workers compensation matters. All Hicksons partners and staff are practical, forward-looking people with real-world experience and deep expertise and Jennifer can provide insights on current trends in complaints and, critically, strategic advice on the most appropriate response to issues. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Newcastle and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New England. She began with the firm in 2006 and is admitted to practice in NSW and the High Court of Australia.
Samantha Hayek
Samantha Hayek is Legal Counsel at Sydney Catholic Schools. Sydney Catholic Schools is a system of 149 primary and secondary schools operating across the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. Samantha provides advice, legal support and identifies legal exposure and risk in areas such as Privacy, Employment, Discrimination, Personal Injury and contract’s. Samantha has had extensive experience in managing and responding to applications made to the National Redress Scheme and claims of historical child sexual abuse on behalf of Sydney Catholic Schools. Samantha’s experience advocating for people across the criminal, family and care and protection jurisdiction (before her time at Sydney Catholic Schools) has armed her with a unique ability to provide the most effective legal advice for school based inquiries and issues that pertain directly to children and young people and their families. Samantha believes that education at the school level is key to ensuring low legal exposure and has presented educational sessions on legal compliance in areas such as Discrimination and Family Law to Sydney Catholic Schools school based and central office staff.
Brad Swibel
Brad Swibel was appointed as Deputy Head of School at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in 2013. Brad is responsible for academic, wellbeing, policy and staffing for the Middle School (Years 7-9) and Senior College (Years 10-12). Brad works with the senior executive team on vision development, alignment and strategy and is involved in cocurricular, risk management, marketing and budgetary planning. Brad’s aspiration is for every student to be able to reach their personal best and for teachers to be equipped to deliver highest quality teaching and learning programs. The School’s systematic use of data is key to this process by coaching students, developing class learning sprints, identifying intervention needs and recognising achievement of personal bests.
Sonya Parsons
Sonya helps charities, not-for-profit organisations and companies resolve their disputes as quickly and easily as possible. She has more than 20 years' experience in a broad range of litigation and dispute resolution, and has been nationally accredited as a mediator. Sonya has particular expertise acting nationally in matters involving claims for historical child abuse. Sonya also acts for non-government schools seeking administrative review of decisions in NCAT, and advising education providers on the Education and Care Services National Law. She has also managed confidential workplace investigations and represented clients at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, and also has a particular interest in matters of workplace fraud and corruption.
Jacquie Seemann
Jacquie Seemann has practised employment law, discrimination law and education law since 1990. Jacquie and her team advise on individual and collective employment relationships from recruitment to termination and beyond. An experienced litigator in employment and industrial relations, Jacquie has specialist expertise in discrimination, unfair dismissal, breach of contract claims, industrial disputes, and prosecutions for breach of awards, industrial and safety laws. She is a tough negotiator, and looks for commercial and non-litigious solutions where possible. She enjoys the challenge of drafting plain English enterprise agreements and employment contracts. Jacquie has been acknowledged for her work in employment law by The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific, Doyle's Guide and Best Lawyers in Australia. Jacquie works in both the public and private sectors, and her expertise spans a wide range of industries. Jacquie's education sector clients cover the education lifecycle, including preschools, schools, universities and other post-secondary education providers. She advises these clients not only on employment-related issues but also on the broadest range of education law issues including staff and student discipline, disability issues, child protection and strategic responses to social media use. She was NSW Chapter Vice President for the Australia & New Zealand Education Law Association for many years, co-authored the employment law chapter in Higher Education and the Law (Federation Press, 2015), and a chapter about religion and schools in the Palgrave Handbook of Schools Law (2018).
Michael Waterhouse
Michael Waterhouse has unique depth of experience in the NSW public sector with 26 years experience as a lawyer, policy advisor and senior executive. As General Counsel (including its predecessor role) for the NSW Education Department for 19 years, Michael built an incomparable experience in settling legal, commercial, industrial and policy disputes. Which included settling a group action by members of the Aboriginal Stolen Generation in NSW, including providing individual apologies and settlement conferences to several hundred individuals, leading the Education Department’s response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual abuse, implementing the Government’s principles for trauma informed approach to survivors of such abuse; Working personally with 100s of individuals who have experienced various forms of trauma and abuse in institutional settings; Settling complex industrial and award negotiations; Negotiating legislation through the NSW parliament.; Negotiating detailed policy agreements and MOUs between NSW government agencies, and non-government organisations, particularly in the human services field and Negotiating difficult disputes about existing agreements between government and other parties. Michael mediates complex legal disputes, particularly involving historical abuse cases. Michael can be contacted through his website https://waterhousemediation.com.au/
Rebecca Haynes
Rebecca Haynes is a Senior Lawyer and Casual Legal Academic practicing in the areas of Education Law, Human Rights, Disability, Administrative Law and Child Protection.
Venue
Legalwise Seminars - Pitt Street
Level 11 70 Pitt Street
Sydney 2000 NSW
Australia
Parking information:
Parking not included in you registration. Here are some options below.
Secure Park 20 Bond Street - click here for rates
Wilson Park 1 O'Connell Street - click here for rates
Wilson Park 31 Bond Street - click here for rates
Directions:
Nearby Public Transport:
Train Stations - Wynyard 400m OR Martin Place 500m
Bus Interchange - Clarence Street 450m
Ferry - Circular Quay 1.2km