Executive Director’s Update to Principals #16 - 28 March 2023
Principal Attestation
A reminder to all principals that the Principal Attestation is due for completion THIS FRIDAY 31st March.
There are still a number of Attestations not submitted. Thank you to those Principals who have completed the Attestation.
Be aware of the questions regarding Early Learning Centres and BARR schools/colleges.
Annual Report to School Communities
The attached powerpoint has been created by CECV staff to further assist with the completion of the Annual Report to School Communities. It was presented at an online forum on Tuesday 28th March by David Judge and Kris Maracco.
If you have further questions either from the powerpoint, or generally regarding the ARSC, do not hesitate to contact Susan Crowe at Catholic Education Ballarat.
People and Development Update
Family and Domestic Violence.
There has been a change to the Fair Work Act in relation to family and domestic violence leave, details as follows:
- Casual employees will have an immediate entitlement to 10 days of paid family and domestic leave
- Effective from 4 June 2023 Employers are prohibited from recording the taking of family and domestic violence leave on an employee’s pay slip
For further information, please see the CECV Circular to Principals.
HINT.
Hint is a feature developed through SIMON to make it easier for schools to record, track and report hazards and incidents.
HINT is currently being reviewed and feedback is invited from schools regarding your user experience and possible improvements – for example reporting functionality and integration enhancements with sick pass.
We are interested in collating as much feedback as we can on HINT to ensure it meets the needs of schools and DOBCEL, please send your HINT feedback to: ohsnotifications@dobcel.catholic.edu.au.
HINT can be accessed via a sick pass entry or your SIMON home page via the menu. Please note limited information currently flows from sick pass into HINT. As such, schools will need to complete further information in HINT regarding any incident.
Please continue to use HINT to report all staff and student hazards and incidents.
WorkSafe Notifiable Incidents.
Following on from last year’s communication regarding clarification of the reporting of notifiable incidents, the following flowcharts for Primary and Secondary schools were developed.
If you have any questions about notifiable incidents, please contact Leah Crough OHS Coordinator on 0419 687 893.
Chemwatch.
The roll out of Chemwatch has commenced with St Joseph’s Primary, Warrnambool and St Mary’s Primary, Swan Hill currently trialing the software solution. A big thank-you to both schools for being an important part of our initial trial.
Allocated Chemwatch administrators will be receiving set up instructions shortly for remaining DOBCEL schools. Chemwatch will be accessed by your SIMON home page in the ‘school links’ menu and not require individual log ins.
Labour Hire Providers and Occupational Health and Safety.
Following the recommendations of the Victorian Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work, the Victorian Government passed the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic.) (the Act). Obligations under the legislation commenced from 30 October 2019.
The Victorian Labour Hire Licensing Scheme aims to regulate labour hire arrangements and protect vulnerable labour hire workers from exploitation by the providers of labour hire services and businesses or organisations that use the services of labour hire providers (otherwise known as hosts).
In addition, under an amendment to the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic.), employees of labour hire providers engaged by a school are also defined as employees of the school. This means that schools owe the same duties to the employees of labour hire providers as they do to their direct employees. Included is a new duty for those engaging labour hire providers to consult, cooperate and coordinate with those providers to ensure the duties to relevant employees are met.
For more information, please refer to the Information Sheet – Labour Hire Licensing Scheme and Letter Template.
Safe and Sound Practice Guidelines (Occupational Violence) CECV.
The Safe and Sound Practice Guidelines offer advice and support to school leaders in both preventing and responding to incidents of aggression and violence directed towards staff in circumstances arising out of, or in the course of, their work.
The update for the CECV Safe and Sound Guidelines incorporates changes in legislation, regulations and the introduction of the School Community Safety Order Scheme.
OHS Committee Vacancies.
The DOBCEL OHS Committee is seeking to fill the following vacancies:
- Primary Principal Representative
- Secondary Principal Representative
The OHS Committee meets once a term for 90 minutes. This is a great opportunity to effect change in safety matters that impact on your schools.
If you would like to make a nomination or for further information, please contact Leah Crough at ohsnotifications@dobcel.catholic.edu.au by Friday 7 April 2023.
Destruction of Vaccination Information.
Further to the issuing of the CECV Destruction of vaccination information circular, many schools have reached out for some additional information on the requirements under the amended regulations.
Please note that CECV will be providing guidance material to assist schools including details for the safe destruction of these vaccination records.