The Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has an absolute and abiding commitment to promote the safeguarding of children.  In 2019, as a part of that commitment, our Bishop, Bill Wright, articulated his expectations of all those who work for the Diocese, “I expect you to place the safety, welfare and wellbeing of every child and vulnerable adult at the centre of everything you do in the name of our church", he said. 

Bishop Wright established the Office of Safeguarding, whose director answers to the Bishop’s Office and is charged to oversee the whole of the Diocese’s safeguarding of children, including the students in our system of schools.

As a parent sending your child to a Diocesan school, you are expected to be an active participant in safeguarding your child’s wellbeing.  To do so, it’s important that you have the best information available to you.  The Office of Safeguarding website offers comprehensive details of the Diocese’s approach to safeguarding children.  You are also encouraged to be an active participant in the life of your school.

As a parent of a diocesan school student, if you are concerned for:

• the safety, welfare or wellbeing of one or more children in the school
• the conduct of a member of staff, a volunteer, contractor or other adult associated with the school

you are able to:

• discuss your concerns with a teacher, Assistant Principal or Principal
• talk to an investigator at the Office if Safeguarding (Ph. 4979 1390, during office hours)
• report your concerns to the Department of Communities and Justice’s (DCJ) Child Protection Helpline (Ph. 132 111, 24 hrs/7 days) if your concerns constitute a risk of significant harm
• report to NSW Police if you believe a crime has been committed.

In 2005 the Diocese established a centralised, expert child protection team, now known as the Office of Safeguarding (previously Zimmerman Services), which oversees child protection practices across the whole Diocese, including the Catholic Schools Office and all our Catholic schools. The Diocese’s child protection practices include a range of preventative services as well as responding to allegations of abuse.

You can find out more about the Office of Safeguarding and its roles and functions on line at: https://officeofsafeguarding.org.au/

Safe School Framework

At St James’, we are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all of our pupils so they can learn in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable at our school. If bullying does occur, all pupils should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively. We are a telling school. This means that anyone who knows that bullying is happening is expected to tell the staff.

Bullying

Whilst there is no definitive and universally accepted definition of bullying, the most influential research in the area of what constitutes bullying has been proposed by Olweus (1993):

“…bullying may be defined as a student being exposed, repeatedly and over time, to intentional injury or discomfort inflicted by one or more other students. This may include physical contact, verbal assault, making obscene gestures or facial expressions, and intentionally excluding the student.”

The National Safe Schools Framework (2011) defines bullying as repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons.

It is important to note that cyber bullying has become a significant area of concern and action in recent years. Cyberbullying may be defined as:

“………. any form of bullying that utilises technology such as instant messaging, online chat rooms, online bulletin boards and email. In many ways this is a more insidious form of bullying since it may reach into a victim’s home.” In other words, technology now allows the bully to inflict psychological harm on his or her victim anywhere and anytime without respite. (Schools and the Law - Des Butler and Ben Matthews p.46)

Bullying may comprise the following:

Physical:  Physical bullying involves harmful actions against another person’s body.  Examples include:  biting, kicking, pushing, pinching, hitting, tripping, pulling hair, any form of violence or intimidation.  Physical bullying also involves the interference with another person’s property.  Examples include: damaging or stealing.

Verbal:  Verbal bullying involves speaking to a person or about a person in an unkind or hurtful way.  Examples include:  sarcasm, teasing, put-downs, name calling, phone calls, spreading rumors or hurtful gossip.

Emotional:  Emotional bullying involves behaviors that upset, exclude, or embarrass a person.  Examples include:  nasty notes, saying mean things using technology (e.g. cyber bullying using emails, instant messaging), chat rooms, tormenting threatening, humiliation or social embarrassment.

Sexual:  Sexual bullying singles out a person because of gender and demonstrates unwarranted or unwelcome sexual behavior.  Examples include: sexual comments, abusive comments, unwanted physical contact.

Racial:  Racial bullying involves rejection or isolation of a person because of ethnicity.  Examples include: gestures, racial slurs or taunts, name calling, making fun of customs/skin color/accent/food choices.

Isolated conflict or fights between students or single incidents are not usually defined as bullying.