School Law Summit 2019
Let’s face it: schools have staff, schools have students, so schools have legal risks. Don’t be overwhelmed by the legal risks facing schools when managing staff and their performance at work. Prepare your school to handle the civil and, and potentially criminal, liabilities that arise from maintaining a child safe school.
Description
Attend and earn 6 CPD units in Substantive Law
Session 1
Chair: Peter Mader, President, South Australian Secondary Principals’ Association
9.00am to 9.40am: The Changing Nature of Duty of Care to Your Staff: What Has Changed, What Hasn't and Avoiding the Hashtags
- Regulatory and legal changes of note
- Genuinely new areas of liability that employers and senior management owe to employees and their contractors
- Refresher of the areas where schools need to actively manage employment, workplace and safety claims risks
- Recent cases and examples
- Practical tips for school managers and HR
Presented by Will Snow, Partner Finlaysons
9.40am to 10.20am: HYPOTHETICAL: Preventing and Dealing with Workplace Bullying to Create and Maintain a Harmonious Workplace
This presentation maps out for you what happens when:
- Good anti bullying policy and effective procedures are in place and are effectively implemented
- What occurs when the policy and procedures are unclear, are not well implemented, or both
Presented by Angela Falkenberg, President, South Australian Primary Principals Association
10.20am to 11.00am: Flexible Work Practices in Schools: The What, Why and How
- The range of flexible work practices available
- Legislative, industrial and policy requirements – and pitfalls
- Strategies to facilitate appropriate and supportive practices
Presented by Mardi Barry Director, Employee Relations, Department for Education
11.00am to 11.15am: Morning Tea
11.15am to11.55am: Disciplining and/or Dismissing Staff: The Right and Wrong Way
- The importance of the decision making process (including the decision to dismiss)
- Key procedural fairness issues for performance management and conduct investigations
- Recent cases and examples
- Guidance for school managers and HR
Presented by Ben Duggan, Director, Fox Tucker
11.55am to 12.35pm: Adverse Action: Lessons for Schools
You’ve terminated a staff member for all the right reasons but they commence proceedings claiming adverse action and you don’t know why. Now what?
- Gain an understanding of what is adverse action
- Lessons learned from the case law which will assist you to implement strategies to prevent employees bringing a claim
- The correct way to respond to a claim.
Presented by Kaz Eaton, Barrister, Flinders Chambers
Session 2
Chair: Tony Houey, Retired Deputy Principal and Current Teacher of Year 12 Legal Studies, Pembroke School
1.30pm to 2.20pm: Child Safety Obligations and Managing Risks
- The 10 Royal Commission Elements of a Child Safe Institution
- New requirement to report suspected child neglect
- Updating your Child Protection Policy, the Code of Conduct & Social Media Policy
- Volunteers in schools, including regular short/long term homestays and billeting
- Boarding Schools and child safety
Presented by Denise Rieniets, Principal, Denise M Rieniets & Associates
2.20pm to 3.10pm: Litigating Civil Claims for Institutional Abuse and Your School
- Managing allegations of sexual abuse both historic and present
- Being prepared for potential claims: record keeping, responding to requests for documentation and other useful tips
- Guiding a school that is required to respond to a claim of sexual abuse
Presented by Tony Kerin, SA Managing Principal, Grope Hamilton
3.10pm to 3.25pm: Afternoon Tea
3.25pm to 4.15pm: How the New Redress Scheme Works
- An A-Z introduction to the Redress Scheme
- Key challenges for participating institutions
- What are the implication for applicants who have settled civil claims against a participating institution?
Presented by Cathy Taylor, Chief Executive, Department for Child Protection
4.15pm to 5.00pm: Criminal Liability for Child Abuse and Your School
- Is failing to report or protect a child from child abuse a crime?
- Reporting an offence and liaising with Police
- Does a school’s liability extend to the criminal acts of its employees? Prince Alfred College and other leading cases on institutional abuse
Presented by Robert Kane, Barrister, Mitchell Chambers
Venue
Stamford Plaza Adelaide Hotel
Level 2, 150 North Terrace
Adelaide 5000
SA
Australia