YARD DUTY AND SUPERVISION POLICY
Help for non-English speakers
If you need help to understand the information in this policy please contact the Reservoir East Primary School office on 9460-1569.
Purpose
To ensure school staff understand their supervision and yard duty responsibilities.
Scope
This policy applies to all teaching and non-teaching staff a Reservoir East Primary School , including education support staff, casual relief teachers and visiting teachers.
Policy
Appropriate supervision is an important strategy to monitor student behaviour and enables staff to identify and respond to possible risks at school as they arise. It also plays a vital role in helping schools to discharge their duty of care to students.
The Principal is responsible for ensuring that there is a well organised and responsive system of supervision and yard duty in place during school hours, before and after school, and on school excursions and camps and other school activities.
School staff are responsible for following reasonable and lawful instructions from the Principal, including instructions to provide supervision to students at specific dates, times and places. Supervision should be undertaken in a way that identifies and mitigates risks to child safety.
Before and after school
REPS’s grounds are supervised by school staff from 8.45am until 9.00am and 3.15pm until 3.30pm. Outside of these hours, school staff will not be available to supervise students.
Parents and carers should not allow their children to attend REPS outside of these hours. Families are encouraged to contact BIG Childcare on 0423 240 258 or refer to our website for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community.
If a student arrives at school before supervision commences at the beginning of the day, the principal or nominee staff member will, as soon as practicable, follow up with the parent/carer to:
· advise of the supervision arrangements before school
· request that the parent/ carer make alternate arrangements.
If a student is not collected before supervision finishes at the end of the day, the principal or nominee staff member will consider whether it is appropriate to:
· attempt to contact the parents/carers
· attempt to contact the emergency contacts
· place the student in an out of school hours care program
· contact Victoria Police and/or the Department of Health and Human Services (Child Protection) to arrange for the supervision, care and protection of the student.
Yard duty
All staff at REPS are expected to assist with yard duty supervision and will be included in the weekly roster.
The Daily Organiser is responsible for preparing and communicating the yard duty roster on a regular basis.
At REPS, school staff will be designated a specific yard duty area to supervise. There will be three staff on yard duty at play times. One in Zone 1, one in Zone 2 and 1 roaming in both shared areas.
During yard duty, supervising staff must:
methodically move around the designated zone, checking in the concealed areas in the Wetlands.
be alert and vigilant
intervene immediately if potentially dangerous or inappropriate behaviour is observed in the yard
enforce behavioural standards and implement appropriate consequences for breaches of safety rules, in accordance with any relevant disciplinary measures set out in REPS’ Student Engagement and Wellbeing policy
ensure that students who require first aid assistance receive it as soon as practicable
log any incidents or near misses as appropriate in Compass
if being relieved of their yard duty shift by another staff member (for example, where the shift is ‘split’ into 2 consecutive time periods), ensure that a brief but adequate verbal ‘handover’ is given to the next staff member in relation to any issues which may have arisen during the first shift.
Yard duty responsibilities
Staff who are rostered for yard duty must remain in the designated area until they are replaced by a relieving staff member.
During yard duty, supervising school staff must:
· methodically move around the designated zone ensuring active supervision of all students and checking in the concealed areas in the Wetlands.
· where safe to do so, approach any unknown visitor who is observed on school grounds without a clear legitimate purpose, and ensure they have a visitor pass and have signed in (excluding drop off and collection periods)
· ensure students remain in their designated year level zones
· be alert and vigilant
· intervene immediately if potentially dangerous or inappropriate behaviour is observed in the yard
· enforce behavioural standards and implement appropriate consequences for breaches of safety rules, in accordance with any relevant disciplinary measures set out in the school’s Student Engagement policy
· ensure that students who require first aid assistance receive it as soon as practicable
· log any incidents or near misses as appropriate on Compass.
If being relieved of their yard duty shift by another staff member (for example, where the shift is ‘split’ into 2 consecutive time periods), the staff member must ensure that a brief but adequate verbal ‘handover’ is given to the relieving staff member in relation to any issues which may have arisen during the first shift.
If the supervising staff member is unable to conduct yard duty at the designated time, they should contact the Daily Organiser or Principal with as much notice as possible prior to the relevant yard duty shift to ensure that alternative arrangements are made.
If the supervising staff member needs to leave yard duty during the allocated time, they should contact the Principal but should not leave the designated area until the relieving staff member has arrived in the designated area.
If the relieving staff member does not arrive for yard duty, the staff member currently on duty should call Kelly in the Office, and not leave the designated area until a replacement staff member has arrived.
Students will be encouraged to speak to the supervising yard duty staff member if they require assistance during recess or lunchtime.
Classroom
The classroom teacher is responsible for the supervision of all students in their care during class.
If a teacher needs to leave the classroom unattended at any time during a lesson, they should first contact the Principal or Assistant Principal. The teacher should then wait until another staff member has arrived at the classroom to supervise the class prior to leaving.
School activities, camps and excursions
The Principal and leadership team are responsible for ensuring that students are appropriately supervised during all school activities, camps and excursions, including when external providers are engaged to conduct part or all of the activity. Appropriate supervision will be planned for school activities, camps and excursions on an individual basis, depending on the activities to be undertaken and the level of potential risk involved, and will follow the supervision requirements in the Department of Education and Training Excursions Policy.
Digital devices and virtual classroom
REPS follows the Department’s Cybersafety and Responsible Use of Technologies Policy with respect to supervision of students using digital devices.
REPS will also ensure appropriate supervision of students participating in remote and flexible learning environments while on school site. In these cases, students will be supervised in classrooms/library/break out space/ common area].
While parents are responsible for the appropriate supervision of students accessing virtual classrooms from home:
· student attendance will be monitored
· any wellbeing or safety concerns for the student will be managed in accordance with our usual processes – refer to our Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy and our Child Safety Responding and Reporting Policy and Procedures for further information.
Students requiring additional supervision support
Sometimes students will require additional supervision, such as students with disability or other additional needs. In these cases, the Principal or delegate will ensure arrangements are made to roster additional staff as required. This may include on yard duty, in the classroom or during school activities.
Supervision of student in emergency operating environments
In emergency circumstances our school will follow our Emergency Management Plan, including with respect to supervision.
In the event of any mandatory period of remote or flexible learning our School will follow the operations guidance issued by the Department.
COMMUNICATION
This policy will be communicated to our school community in the following ways:
· Included in staff induction processes
· Discussed at staff briefings or meetings, as required
· Included in our staff handbook
· Included on our website
Information for parents and students on supervision before and after school is available on our school website.
Further Information and Resources
· the Department’s Policy and Advisory Library (PAL):
· Cybersafety and Responsible Use of Technologies
POLICY REVIEW AND APPROVAL
Policy last reviewed 26 August 2022
Approved by Principal, James Cumming
Next scheduled review date 26 August 2024
The mandatory minimum review cycle for this policy is 2 years.
This policy will also be updated if significant changes are made to school grounds that require a revision of REPS’s yard duty and supervision arrangements.