visitors policy

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Purpose

To provide a safe and secure learning and teaching environment for students and staff by establishing processes to monitor and manage visitors to Preston South Primary School.

Scope

This policy outlines our school’s arrangements for visitors who attend school grounds when the school is open for instruction between the hours of 8:30am to 4:00pm, and when the office is staffed to monitor/receive visitors at reception, including parents and contractors. Outside of these times, our front office is not staffed and this policy does not apply.

Definitions

Child-related work: As defined by the Worker Screening Act 2020 (Vic), child-related work is work that usually involves direct contact (including in person, over the phone, written and online communication) with a child that is a central part of that person’s duties. It does not include work that involves occasional direct contact with children that is incidental to the work.

Policy

Preston South Primary School strives to create an open and inclusive school community, and encourages parents and carers to be actively involved in their child’s development and education. We also strive to foster strong partnerships with local community services, schools and other organisations.

Preston South Primary School is not a public place. The principal has the authority to permit or deny entry to school grounds, and encourages all visitors to familiarise themselves with our school’s Statement of Values, Child Safe Policy, Child Safe Code of Conduct .

From time to time, different members of the public may visit our school. Visitors may include, but are not limited to:

Parents
Volunteers – see our school’s Volunteers Policy for more information
Prospective parents, students and employees
Invited speakers, sessional instructors and others addressing learning and development
Public officials (e.g. Members of Parliament, local councillors)
Persons conducting business e.g.: uniform suppliers, booksellers, official school photographers, commercial salespeople
Tradespeople
Children’s services agencies
Department of Health and Human Services workers
Victoria Police
Persons authorised to enter school premises (e.g. Worksafe inspectors, health officers etc)
Other Department of Education and Training staff (including allied health staff) or contractors
NDIS therapists or other allied health or health practitioners

Sign in procedure

All visitors to Example School are required to report to the school office on arrival (see exceptions below in relation to parents/carers). Visitors must:

Record their name, date and time of visit and purpose of visit in
Provide proof of identification to office staff upon request
Produce evidence of their valid Working with Children Clearance where required
Wear a visitor’s lanyard when required
Follow instruction from school staff and abide by all relevant school policies relating to appropriate conduct on school grounds including Child Safety Code of Conduct or Statement of Values as well as Department policies such as the Sexual Harassment Policy and Workplace Bullying Policy
Return to the office upon departure, sign out and return visitor’s lanyard

Preston South Primary School will ensure that our school’s Child Safety Code of Conduct is available and visible to visitors when they sign in.

COVID-19 vaccination information

Under the directions issued by the Victorian Chief Health Officer, visitors attending school to work are required to be vaccinated or provide evidence that they are medically excepted. Our school is required to collect, record and hold vaccination information from relevant visitors to ensure they meet these requirements.

Department policy also requires us to ensure parents and carers and other adult visitors are vaccinated or medically excepted before entering school buildings and when attending outdoor gatherings and events.

For further information on this process, refer to COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination – Information Collection and Recording Procedures available on the School Policy Templates Portal.

For Department policy on COVID-19 mandatory vaccinations for visitors, including advice on the type of information that schools are required to collect, record and hold, refer to: COVID-19 Vaccinations – Visitors and Volunteers on School Sites

Working with Children Clearance

For Working with Children (WWC) Check and other suitability check requirements relating to parents/carers and other volunteers working with students please see our Volunteers Policy.

All visitors who are engaged in child-related work (see definition above) must have a valid WWC Clearance.

In some circumstances, visitors to Preston South Primary School who are not engaged in child-related work will also be required to produce a valid WWC Clearance depending on the particular circumstances of their visit. For example, Preston South Primary School will require a valid WWC Clearance for:

visitors who will be working regularly with children during the time they are visiting, even though direct contact with children is not a central part of their normal duties
visitors (e.g. contractors), who will regularly be performing unsupervised work at the school during school hours or any other time where children are present. Further background checks, including references, may also be requested at the discretion of the principal.

Visitors who will be working in areas away from students (e.g. a visiting auditor who will be located in the front office with administration staff) or who will be supervised and accompanied by a staff member during their visit (e.g. a Member of Parliament, a journalist, a prospective parent on a school tour) will not be required to have a WWC Clearance.

Sworn Victoria Police officers or sworn Australian Federal Police officers are exempt from requiring a WWC Check, but may be asked to verify that they are sworn officers by providing proof of identification.

Invited speakers and presenters

On occasion, Preston South Primary School may invite external speakers or providers to deliver incursions, presentations, workshops and special programs for our students. Consistent with Department of Education and Training requirements, Preston South Primary School will:

ensure that the content of presentations and programs by external providers contributes to the educational development of our students and is consistent with curriculum objectives
ensure that any proposed visit, programs or content delivered by visitors complies with the requirement that education in Victorian government schools is secular and is consistent with the values of public education, Department policies and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006(Vic). In particular, programs delivered by visitors are to be delivered in a manner that supports and promotes the principles and practice of Australian democracy including a commitment to:
- elected government
- the rule of law
- equal rights for all before the law
- freedom of religion, speech and association
- the values of openness and tolerance
- respect the range of views held by students and their families.

Parent visitors

We understand that there may occasionally be a reason why a parent or carer may want to speak to or see their child at school, during school hours.

If there is a particular pressing or unavoidable issue that cannot wait until the end of the school day, we ask that parents or carers call the school office to make the request to speak to or see their child during school hours.

We also ask that parents avoid arranging to visit their children at school wherever possible, as this can cause inappropriate disruptions to the school day.

All parents or carers who visit our school during school hours, other than for the purposes of school pick ups and drop offs or for specific school events (eg parent teacher interviews, concerts, assemblies etc), are required to sign in as a visitor at the school office.

Parents or carers who are prohibited from entering the school under a court order or direction of the Principal are not permitted to visit the school. Our school maintains and provides office staff with a list of restricted parents/carers which may include identifying photographs and any other information as required depending on the level of risk posed.

Other visitors

All business operators, tradespeople and other visitors attending the school to conduct work must report to the school office upon arrival for instruction and follow the sign in procedure outlined above.

Communication

This policy will be communicated to our school community in the following ways :

Available publicly on our school’s website
Included in induction processes for relevant staff
Discussed in an annual staff briefing/meeting
Made available in hard copy from school administration upon request

Related Policies and Resources

Department policies:

Policy Review and Approval

Policy last reviewed: 16/02/2022

Approved by: Principal

Next scheduled review date: 16/02/2026