Banner: The Education State

Sub heading: Schools

Hard Words

This paper has some hard words.

The first time we write a hard word

the word is in blue

we write what the hard word means next to it.

SUPPORTING PARENTS AND CARERS OF CHILDREN WITH BEHAVIOURS OF CONCERN

A behaviour of concern is when a person hurt themselves or other people.

Teachers have to make sure that all students are safe; this is called duty of care.

Teachers have to make sure that they are safe as well.

Parents and teachers can work together to try to stop behaviours of concern from happening.

Talk with the school

The school will call you if your child is hurting themselves or others at school.

If you are worried about your child you can call the school.

Ask to speak to your childs teacher, year level coordinator or a wellbeing staff member.

You need to tell the school if your child has a health problem or disability.

This is so the school can help your child.

If your child has a disability, they may need a plan to help them learn and do things at school.

The school might need to talk to your doctor or other doctors. The school will ask you if this is OK first.

Behaviour support planning

A behaviour support plan is a plan that lets everyone know what to do if a behavior of concern happens and how to stop it.

It is important for you to have a say in your childs behaviour support plan.

If your child does not already have a plan, talk to the school.

Understanding your childs behaviour

You may already know why your childs behaviour of concern happens.

You might know what works well for your child

It is important to tell the school about these things.

Your childs school may want to do a functional behaviour assessment.

A functional behavior assessment is to find out more about why your child is hurting themselves or others.

This might help to stop your child from hurting themselves or others.

If services or other people are needed, the school will ask you if this is okay.

What to expect if there is a behaviour of concern involving your child

The school will:

let you know as soon as they can about what happened.

Let the Department of Education and Training (DET) know

ring the ambulance or police if they need to.

let you know if a teacher stopped your child from moving all or part of their body and why

give you information about restraint and seclusion

The school will talk to you about:

making or changing your childs behaviour support plan

if more help for your child is needed.

If the behaviour is very bad:

the school may stop your child from going to school for a short time (called suspension)

may not let your child come back to the school (called expulsion).

More information is on this website: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/parents/behaviour/Pages/discipline.aspx

I AM worried about how the school manages my childs behaviour

If you are worried or not happy you can:

1. talk to the teacher

2. talk to the school principal.

3. call a Community Liaison Officer at your local Department of Education and Training (DET) office.

This website has the phone numbers for your local area: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/contact/pages/regions.aspx

Or ring the Departments switchboard on (03) 9637 2000.

4. If you are still not happy you can write to DET on this website. http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/contact/Pages/complaintslanding.aspx

5. The Department might send your complaint to the Independent Office for School dispute resolution.

You can phone the Office on 1300 017 593 or email school.resolution@edumail.vic.gov.au

You can call an advocate at any time. An advocate can help you to speak up.