Western Australian Excursions: Off School Site Activities Policy

“….The school therefore is to provide and maintain a safe and healthy environment for all staff, pupils, parents and visitors when they are on the school premises….”

All schools must have policies that are designed to reflect the rights and responsibilities of those within the school. These policies should provide guidance to staff and visitors who attend the school on ways to ensure inclusive practise is used.

| Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 requires local education authorities and governing bodies of maintained schools and FE colleges to make arrangements to ensure that their functions are carried out with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.All children deserve the opportunity to achieve their full potential.  The five outcomes that are key to children’s and young people’s wellbeing are: * Stay safe * Be healthy * Enjoy and achieve * Make a positive contribution * Achieve economic wellbeing The school should give effect to their duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of their pupils (students under the age of 18 years of age) under the Education Act 2002 and , where appropriate, under the Children Act 1989 by: * Creating and maintaining a safe learning environment for children and young people. * Identifying where there are child welfare concerns and taking action to address them in partnership with other

Health Professionals: have a duty to report any injuries which they suspect are non-accidental. They must also:

Ensuring that staff has been trained in first Aid and that we have the right equipment. To complete accident forms when an accident occurs and getting the

Yes, Tavion’s mother’s statement of concern about the suspicion of abuse should warrant a valid reason to lunch investigation in the child injury. Moreover, the emergency department staff had suspicion about the Tavion’s injury due to the fact injury is not consistence with an injury sustained in park playground. Hospitals are mandate by law to report any suspicion of child abuse; the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act enacted in 1974 was designed to encourage the reporting of child abuse cases, and prevention. In addition, most states have enacted laws to further protect abuse children, and most states protect the individual required to report cases of suspected child abuse; the following individual are eligible to report suspected cases of abuse include healthcare administrators, physicians, interns, registered nurse, chiropractors, social service workers, psychologists, dentists, osteopaths, optometrists, podiatrists, mental health professionals, and volunteer in healthcare facilities (Pozgar, 2014).

In dealing with an accident or hazard for example if a child was to trip and fall in the playground, there are set instructions to follow to ensure the incident is dealt with appropriately. This would involve taking the child to a registered first aider within the building to allow the child to receive treatment on any injury they may have received. An accident for needs to be filled out so that the accident has been recorded, this then needs to be logged and reported to a senior member or staff. As well as this the incident will need to be reported to and explain to the parents. An extra measure would be to carry out an assessment of the playground to make sure there are no hazards which may have caused the accident such as stones or glass for a child to trip over or no broken equipment or uneven surfaces which may cause futures problems.

There are first aid kits within school and they are kept up to date by the nominated first aiders. The school also has portable first aid kits for trips and visits away from the school grounds. The policy sates that if a serious incident occurs such as unconsciousness, severe allergic reaction, suspected fractures etc., 999 must be called along with the parents immediately.

There are various organisational and legal requirements for supervising children on journeys, visits and activities outside of the school setting. These include policies and procedures which should be carried out by the school including risk assessments of areas that will be visited (New2teaching, 2013).

These types of injuries or illnesses in most cases call for urgent medical attention. It’s important that as a teacher assistant to identify the symptoms and circumstances to request urgent medical attention. For example of emergency situations are;

There are a number of people able to administer first aid on the school premises. There is an appointed person who oversees restocking of first aid boxes, ordering of supplies, filing data from the accident record book, storing of toxic substances and arranging further training and refresher courses. First aid boxes are located around the school and medicines are stored in the staff room under lock and key. Each child who suffers with asthma or who has a serious allergy keeps their own inhaler and a spare one for each child must be kept in school, epipens are stored in the staff room again under lock and key. Photographs and care plans are in place for each child with serious allergies and asthma and these are kept in the staff room.

Play organisations will have set policies and procedures that relate to and include the rights of the children and young people in the setting. Recent changes in legislation mean that these policies and procedures will need reviewing and more than likely updating regularly. By evaluating policies and procedures you should be able to judge the impact they have on children’s rights.

Health and Safety (First Aid) 1981 – Longford Park Primary School complies with this by keeping well stocked first aid boxes on the teachers desk in each classroom and are carried by playground supervisors. Designated first aiders are appointed and suitably trained with a list of all first aiders on display in the staff room so that all staff know who to refeer to if a child has an accident, all accidents are recorded in the accident book.

Remaining calm, ensuring safety of all involved, assessing situation, providing assistance/ administering first aid as required and within limits of training, requesting professional support as required and informing them of situation,

Heavy equipment may be used to free the victim All workers should go to the accident area to assist the rescue First aid should only