Santa Sabina College, as part of Dominican Education Australia (DEA), has been evaluated as demonstrating a high level of commitment and understanding of the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards. The College was audited by Australian Catholic Safeguarding.
DEA is the first Ministerial Public Juridic Person to undertake such an audit. The National Catholic Safeguarding Standards align with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, and include accountability commitments made by Catholic leadership following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
ACSL CEO Dr Ursula Stephens commended DEA for the way in which safeguarding is built into the curriculum of the DEA schools and the professionalism of staff in their commitment to protecting and respecting the rights of their students. Fundamental to the DEA safeguarding approach is awareness of trauma-informed care and encouraging personal responsibility for others.
The other DEA schools reviewed in this process alongside Santa Sabina were Cabra Dominican College, St Dominic’s Priory College, St Mary’s College and St Lucy’s School.
‘The education sector is highly regulated, and the ACSL audit framework takes this into account, by moving beyond a compliance focus to one that measures an organisation’s maturity in safeguarding responses’, Dr Stephens said.
‘We are impressed by the ways in which DEA is focused on student wellbeing and accommodating the diverse needs of students within their schools.
Parents, teachers and students were also interviewed during the audit. Students spoke confidently about how their sense of safety and wellbeing was nurtured within their schools. The auditors noted evidence of this care in the design of school spaces, the relationships between younger and older students and the opportunities for students, parents and friends to be engaged in community activities.
Dr David Treanor, Director of Safeguarding and Compliance with ACSL, was lead auditor and noted ‘The many opportunities to see the principles of Catholic Social Teaching being imbued in school life were also a joyful part of the audit program.’
