Rationale:

The department encourages schools to welcome parents and families as part of the school

community and support school in building partnership with the broader school community. In developing such partnerships, a range of visitors will be on school premises and all school are required to have a policy and procedures in place for having visitors to the school.

The purpose of the policy is to assist the school to utilize visitors from the wider community appropriately, safely and within department protocols.

DEFINITION:      

A visitor is defined as any person seeking to enter the school within school hours (7:00 am to 1:00 pm) who is not an employee of the school or is not a current school student at the school.

AIMS:

  • Enrichment and specialist support and knowledge for students. E.g., speakers from industry, music/drama performances.
  • Support for student health and well-being. E.g., non-school based physiologists and counselors, the police.
  • Non-teaching support. E.g., trades people.
  • Support in “special categories”. Appropriate special categories include the provision of canteen services, fieldwork experiences for pre service teacher or community placements.
  • For example, classroom helpers, interschool sport coaches etc.

 IMPLEMENTATION:

    • The school will require all visitors to report to the main administration office upon entering the school premises.
    • Visitors should enter the school through the main gate.
    • Once at the office, visitors will be asked who they are, the purpose of their visit and who their school contact is.
    • Once a reason for the visit has been established then they will sign the visitor’s book and be given a visitors pass. This pass must be visibly displayed by the visitor at all times during their visit.
    • At the end of the visit, the visitor will be asked to sign out and return the pass.
    • Any person entering the school during school hours who is not willing to comply with the above-mentioned visitors process will be asked to leave school grounds.
    • In the event of an evacuation, the visitor’s book will be collected by the officer staff and brought out to the evacuation assembly area.
    • The staff member who has brought the visitor in or is physically closest to the visitor will assist the visitor with the evacuation as they would a student.

    STAFF RESPONSIBILITIES

    • Ensure that visitors and their presentation/work in the school comply with department and school level protocols.
    • Staff should inform the principal and office staff of any visitors they are having come to the school, including the name, date, approximate time of the visit and a brief outline of the visit. This should then be recorded in the school diary and on the staffroom term whiteboard, and can then appear in the weekly planner/bulletin.
    • Ensure that the visitor is signed in and out and displaying a visitors pass.
    • Assist the visitor in knowing what to do in the event of an evacuation/lock down.
    • Staff must stop any person who is not wearing a visitors pass and direct them to the office.
    • The department’s requirements and guidelines relating to preparation, safety and duty of care must be observed in the organization of all visitors. Whenever a student- teacher relationship exists, the teacher has a special “duty of care”. As part of that duty, teachers are required to supervise student adequately. This requires not only protection from known hazards, but also protection from those that could arise (those that the teacher should have reasonably foreseen) and against which preventative measures could be taken.

    EXEMPTIONS TO THE VISITOR PROCESS:

    • Parents/guardians/relatives coming to collect student early (before 1:00 pm) will be required to report to the front office to sign the student out, collect a signed pass from the office staff to take to the classroom teacher and collect the student.
    • Parents/guardians/relatives coming to collect students for normal pick-up at home time entering the school grounds between 12:40 pm to 1:00 pm to wait for the home time bell will not need to follow the sign in process.
    • Emergency services people attending the school as a result of a current emergency e.g., school fire, injured student requiring an ambulance will be exempt from following the policy as the first priority is dealing with the emergency call out.
    • Pre service teachers and people on placement will be considered as staff for the duration of their placement. They will not be expected to sign in and out of the school each day.
    • Trade people working before or after the school hours will not be expected to use the sign in process. They will however, have to report to the administration office to let the principal, assistant principal or business manager know of their presence in the school.

    VISITING SPEAKERS:

    • Visiting speakers are in a particularly privileged situation in that they have the opportunity to directly influence students. School should ensure that the content of presentations and addresses will make a positive contribution to the development of students’ knowledge and understanding.
    • Decisions about whether to proceed with a particular presentation rest with the principal or delegated staff member(s) after a suitable investigation has been conducted. A common

    sense approach is best with the welfare of students being paramount when deciding on the use of a guest speaker.

    THE DELEGATED STAFF MEMBER:

    • The delegated staff member can be the team leader, another staff member with experience in the subject or assistant principal.
    • If there is any concern about the subject matter/content covered during a presentation then the teacher should inform the assistant principal / principal as soon as possible. If the matter/ subject content is likely to cause controversy then it may be necessary to give parents prior written warning.

    EVALUATION:

    The policy will be reviewed as part of the school’s three-year review cycle.