Duty of Care

At Tuart Hill Primary School we strive to provide the best possible care for all students. However, one area that has concerned me in the past has been the large number of students who have been arriving well before our 8.40am start time. We are not able to provide adequate supervision for students until around 8.15am so it is important that they do not arrive at school before then (the ideal arrival time is 8.30am). On arrival, all students must go to the Hall and sit quietly until dismissed to their classrooms at 8.30am. Once in their classroom, students are not permitted to leave without their teachers’ permission.

Parents are reminded that teaching staff have a duty of care to their child while they are on school grounds. This means that staff can request your child to comply with school requirements e.g. sitting in the Hall before school, even if you are present. We ask that all parents respect the duty of care of our staff and follow any directions that are given to them.

Another concern that I have is with students who remain on school grounds after the siren goes. Once the final siren rings all students are required to vacate the school grounds as quickly as possible. Students who need to wait longer than 5 minutes for their parent’s to pick them up must sit in the office. Students are not permitted to wait outside the school boundary. Parents who like to meet and chat may do so on school grounds but only if they provide direct (line of sight) supervision of their child. Parents must ensure that their child/ren only engage in playing safe games. We do not have teachers on duty after school so no supervision is provided. No other children are permitted to stay on school grounds and no one is permitted to return to school buildings for any reason (e.g. to use toilets).

To ensure that our school is prepared for any emergency that may occur we practised our Evacuation Procedure on Tuesday and our Lock-Down Procedure on Wednesday. I was impressed that we were able to evacuate the school in around 3.5 minutes and achieve lockdown in less than 1 minute. While we are confident that neither of these procedures will ever need to be used it is essential that we are prepared (just in case).

Parents who notice any possible safety issues around the school or have concerns should contact the office immediately so that we can continue to provide the safest possible learning environment for our students.