Strengthening Our Community: Restorative Practices, Child Safety and Working Together

Dear Parents and Carers,

This edition brings together three important updates for our community: the launch of our new partnership with Real Schools, our College's focus on child safety this fortnight, and a reminder about how we work together to support student wellbeing and behaviour.

Launching Our Partnership with Real Schools

We are delighted to share that Sacred Heart College has entered into a three year partnership with Real Schools, a leading provider of restorative practice in education. This partnership formally launched at our Staff Professional Development Day on Friday 31 July, facilitated by Kirsty Lush.

Kirsty brings almost twenty years of experience in education as a teacher, coach, school principal and university tutor. She has spent seven years as a principal, where she worked with her whole school community to embed restorative practices and build an authentic, connected culture. More recently she has supported leadership teams and teachers across twenty five schools to drive improvement, and she was a finalist for Principal of the Year in the SA Education Awards.

Over the coming three years, Real Schools will work alongside our staff, students and families to strengthen the culture of our College through a framework called RP2.0. Each year of the partnership includes a professional learning day for staff, a classroom support day where Real Schools works directly with our teachers, a parent information session, and regular articles and updates like this one to keep our community informed.

At its heart, RP2.0 is about building strong relationships with everyone in our school community and using those relationships to support both wellbeing and learning. Rather than relying only on punishment and consequence when things go wrong, a restorative approach focuses on repairing harm, restoring relationships, and helping students take genuine responsibility for their actions.

This way of working sits naturally alongside our Mercy tradition. As a College in the Mercy Education Tradition, inspired by the vision of Catherine McAuley, we are called to live out the values of Compassion, Justice, Service, Courage, Hospitality and Respect in all that we do. A restorative approach gives us a practical, everyday way to put these values into action, choosing compassion and respect over judgement, and justice and healing over punishment alone. We look forward to sharing more with you as this exciting journey unfolds.

Child Protection Week: A College Focus

National Child Protection Week is coming up, running from 6 to 12 September, with this year's theme “Every Conversation Matters, Shifting Conversation to Action.” Ahead of this, Sacred Heart College is placing a dedicated focus on child safety this week and next.

As part of this focus, students will take part in an age appropriate presentation covering forms of abuse, the role and obligations of mandatory reporters, and the Child Safety Officers within our College. Our Child Safety Officers, Ms Haley Galloway (Deputy Principal, Student Wellbeing) and Mr Rene Spence (College Counsellor), are the nominated contacts for any child safety concerns and can be reached at childsafe@shckyneton.catholic.edu.au.

You may also be aware that the Victorian Government has recently refreshed its PROTECT guidance, which schools use to identify and respond to concerns about child abuse. Importantly, staff reporting obligations, including mandatory reporting, have not changed. What has changed is that the guidance now provides clearer, tailored pathways depending on where a concern arises, whether that is from an adult connected to the school, between students, within a family, or in the community, so that students and families are connected to the right support at the right time.

We encourage all parents and carers to familiarise themselves with this important information:

Our College Child Safe page: https://www.shckyneton.catholic.edu.au/our-college/childsafe

Our College Policies and Forms page, including our Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy, Child Safety Code of Conduct and Child Protection Reporting Obligations Policy: https://www.shckyneton.catholic.edu.au/our-college/policies-and-forms

The Victorian Government's PROTECT website: https://www.vic.gov.au/protect

Working Together to Support Every Student

At Sacred Heart College, we believe that a strong partnership between home and school is fundamental to every student's success. When parents, carers and College staff work together, students benefit from consistent guidance, encouragement and support that promotes both academic achievement and emotional wellbeing.

Open communication and active engagement enable us to respond effectively to students' needs, celebrate their successes, and address challenges before they become barriers to learning. We encourage families to attend parent-teacher interviews, information evenings, wellbeing discussions and other important school events that contribute to a shared understanding of each student's progress and development.

In some cases, regular Student Support Meetings may be necessary to ensure a consistent and coordinated approach between home and school. These meetings provide an opportunity to review progress, discuss strategies, and work collaboratively to support a student's learning, wellbeing, attendance or engagement. A unified approach helps students receive clear and consistent messages, expectations and support across both environments.

We understand that family life is busy and that parents and carers often balance many competing commitments. However, as part of the agreement to enrol a child at Sacred Heart College, there is an expectation that families will prioritise attendance at meetings relating to their child's education and wellbeing. By working together in partnership, we can provide the best possible support for every student to flourish and reach their full potential.

Thank you for your ongoing partnership and support.