Information sheet

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Whole school community

Managing incidents that have serious impact on individuals and/or the school

Develop and implement agreed policies, strategies and procedures in handling serious incidents

Ensure that the level of response is appropriate to the incident. Avoid secondary problems arising from not dealing with incidents or dealing with them ineffectively.

• Summary

Summary

Schools are committed to effective and fair resolution of incidents and the wellbeing of all concerned.

Managing an incident that has a serious impact on individuals and/or the school requires careful investigation and timely response according to the nature of the particular situation, wider policies and legislation, and the school community's formally documented policy and agreed procedures.

The school's procedures will generally include investigating the situation, interviewing those directly involved as well as observers of the incident, and meeting with carers. These procedures are established to ensure the safety, wellbeing, rights and responsibilities of all those involved and to repair the harm caused by the incident.

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These goals are assisted by:

• focusing on the behaviours of concern rather than the individuals who perpetrated them, and repairing the harm rather than punishing
• treating those involved fairly and with respect
• acknowledging and addressing the physical, social, emotional and educational needs of the situation
• ensuring that the level of response matches the school community's established behaviour management plan and is socially just and informed by educational policy and government legislation
• engaging participants in understanding the issues, taking appropri
• recognising that the incident may be viewed differently by diverse groups within the school community, and that these different understandings may need to be addressed in order to restore the wellbeing of the school environment
• where appropriate, engaging school community members in debriefing and review processes to learn from the situation and improve practices and procedures for the future.