Family Violence Support

2. School leader responsibilities

School leaders are responsible for the implementation of the MARAM in their school by ensuring school staff are supported to understand and meet the school’s legislated obligations.

School leaders can meet their responsibilities by:

• ensuring the leadership team has briefed all staff on their commitment to implementing the reforms
• developing a culture that supports information sharing, MARAM and ongoing collaboration within and outside the school
• ensuring all staff have a shared understanding of wellbeing and safety, and are aware of their responsibilities to identify and respond to family violence
• ensuring all staff have access to the Family Violence Support PAL policy, guidance and resources
• ensuring all staff understand that the PROTECT Four Critical Actions and mandatory reporting still apply when family violence is identified. For more information, refer to Protecting Children – Reporting and Other Legal Obligations
• identifying 2 to 3 staff members to be MARAM nominated staff with responsibilities for screening for family violence, safety planning and providing ongoing support. MARAM nominated staff should have qualifications, training and experience or a role aligned with wellbeing, such as wellbeing coordinators or leadership staff
• ensuring MARAM nominated staff complete relevant department training
• updating staff onboarding processes to ensure relevant staff are aware of their responsibilities and trained, as required
• ensuring current record keeping systems meet record keeping requirements.

For more information, refer to the Information sharing and MARAM implementation checklist (DOCX).

More information on available MARAM training, including the process for registration, is on the Training for the information sharing and MARAM reforms webpage under ‘Education workforces’.