We welcome all those who wish to support learning at our school by volunteering.  We have requirements that volunteers need to fulfil before they may work with students.  We also have limits on how many volunteers are required at any time.

When the opportunity arises to volunteer on more than one occasion in class, for sports teams, for excursions and camps, for our Kitchen Garden  program, canteen or on Governing Council, the following requirements  were needed to be met by all volunteers in 2015:

  • a current DCSI relevant history screening
  • a school based induction which includes  mandatory notification training

We have now clarified the recent changes in policy on screening and suitability of volunteers in schools, announced by the Minister for Education and Child Development,  last week.

What has changed for 2016 is that:
1. Parents and legal guardians may accept a volunteering role and work with their child (and in classes, groups and sports teams their child is in) without obtaining a DCSI clearance.  If they are not a parent  or legal guardian of that class or team they will still need a DCSI clearance. Any  adult in a family, who is not a birth parent or legal guardian of the child, must have a DCSI clearance in order to volunteer.
2. If the volunteer involved in sports coaching is a parent or guardian of a child in that sports team, no DCSI clearance is required. If the volunteer is NOT a parent or guardian of a child in that sports team a DCSI clearance is required.

These things have not changed at our school for 2016:
1.Child safety is paramount in our considerations of who may volunteer their services at school.
2. All volunteers must still have an induction, which includes mandatory notification training.
3 The level of volunteering and invitation to volunteer is controlled by the school and therefore a request to volunteer may not be granted. At any time a volunteer’s services may no longer be required.
4. All volunteers must be supervised by a teacher / staff member and not be working with individual students out of sight of a teacher.
5. Any person wishing to volunteer for excursions or camps needs to have a DCSI clearance.
6. Any person over 18 involved in homestays needs a DCSI clearance.
7. Our Governing Council parents need a DCSI clearance.
8. All volunteers that are not parents or legal guardians in that class, group, or team, must have a DCSI clearance. This includes grandparents and uncles and aunties. Any  adult in a family, who is not a birth parent or legal guardian of the child, must have a DCSI clearance in order to volunteer.

9.Volunteers must still have a DCSI clearance if the volunteer’s services involve close personal contact with children with disabilities. We believe that regular volunteering in class usually involves being in close proximity to children, however, must not involve close personal contact unless this is highly supervised and with parent permission.

Induction sessions for volunteers  for early this term will be advertised soon.