Located in the foothills in the North Eastern suburbs of Adelaide, Saint David's is a Reception to Year 6, co-educational, Catholic primary school with approximately 350 students.
We have a number of procedures in place to try to reduce the risk to our students and to members of our community.
People working or volunteering with children in South Australia must, by law, have a Working with Children Check (WWCC). A Working with Children Check is an assessment of whether a person poses an unacceptable risk to children.
All of our staff, including our part-time, contract, relief workers, support workers and our volunteers, consultants and workers who may come on to our site at a time when children may be present, have a valid Working with Children Check.
The process for volunteers:
With all images that the school makes public, every effort is made to use only children with relevant consents, to present students in a positive light and to maintain the safety of our students.
At the start of every year, families are asked to complete a Privacy and Copyright Consent Form. We make every effort to ensure that only images featuring children with relevant consents are used for promotional purposes. The front office holds a full list of names and consent levels, all class teachers are aware of the specifics relating to the children in their class and school photographers are also aware of this.
You are able to alter your level of consent at any time during the school year, simply come in to the front office and we will assist you.
Sometimes we receive specal requests from local newspapers and media organisations for images to accompany news stories. In the event that this occurs, all families involved will be notified, provided with an image proof and be given the opportunity to participate or not.
Saint David's has an active school Facebook page @saintdavidsparishschool. We use this Facebook page to highlight a variety of aspects of the school including:
As is with all images that the school makes public, every effort is made to use only children with relevant consents, to present students in a positive light and keep them safe. While first names may occasionally be used, we will certainly not disclose surnames.
If at any time you have concerns about any images of your child that the school uses, please contact the page administrator and the image will immediately be removed.
Parents are reminded that the minimum age for opening a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, or Snapchat account is 13, while Kik users under 18 need parental permission. And it is even older for Vine, Tinder, Yik Yak and YouTube. For their own safety, we strongly discourage students being active on any form of social media prior to the minimum age requirements.
Portable computers and mobile devices can be excellent educational tools and are something that students are increasingly required to access to support their education. However, we recommend implementing screen-time limits and making sure that your child enjoys lots of healthy fun activities - both with and without screens.
In younger children too much screen time can have an impact on language development and social skills.
Too much screen time can also affect older children’s development – for example, it can affect their ability to have conversations, maintain eye contact, pay attention in school or read body language. Too much screen time can also result in children missing out on developing a wide range of interests, and the friends and learning associated with these interests.
You can reduce this risk by making sure your child balances time spent using screens with other activities.
The latest guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggest that:
It is possible that your child could encounter dangerous material or people on the internet.
You can reduce this risk by taking some practical internet safety precaustions like checking the privacy settings on apps that your child uses. You can also help your child learn how to use the internet safely, responsibly and enjoyably – for example, by talking to your child about not sharing personal details online and encouraging them to let you know if someone contacts them or is behaving or communicating in a way that is making them feel uncomfortable.
Each year, we are mindful of the need to keep parents and carers informed about our policies and procedures relating to Child Protection. In particular, we draw your attention to the following procedures from Families SA regarding reporting child abuse and neglect. While anyone can report suspicions of abuse or neglect, the Children's Protection Act 1993 lists a range of people who are mandated notifiers, recognising the multiple contexts in which children participate and the varying roles of community members in children's lives.
Reports can be made in the following ways:
Below are some links to several online child safety resources which may be of interest.