School Community Safety Orders

Reporting an order

When a school community safety order is made, the authorised person must report this by submitting a school community safety order report on eduSafe Plus (staff login required).

The eduSafe Plus knowledge base has 2 user guides to help you create and manage a school community safety order report:

• How to create a school community safety order (DOCX)
• How to manage a school community safety order (DOCX).

If authorised persons are unable to access eduSafe Plus at the time of reporting an order, the relevant forms below should be completed, emailed to Legal Division on legal.services@education.vic.gov.au and stored securely by the school until the eduSafe Plus report can be submitted:

• eduSafe Plus manual reporting form – immediate school community safety order (DOCX)
• eduSafe Plus manual reporting form – ongoing school community safety order (DOCX)

Principals and other authorised persons may contact Legal Division on 03 9637 3146 or legal.services@education.vic.gov.au for assistance with completing, submitting or updating a school community safety order report on eduSafe Plus including if there are any issues experienced with accessing the school community safety order report.

For technical support when reporting, contact the IT Service Desk:

• phone: 1800 641 943
• email: servicedesk@education.vic.gov.au.

You can also log an IT faults and issues request on the Services Portal.

When to create a school community safety order report on eduSafe Plus

Authorised persons can create a school community safety order report if they:

• have made an immediate order verbally or before they issue it in writing
• have made a written notice of a proposal to issue an ongoing order.

Only the authorised person who issued an order can submit a school community safety order report in respect of that order. This function cannot be delegated to others.

Submitting a report will notify the department who will follow up to provide advice and support as needed.

Submitting and updating a school community safety order report on eduSafe Plus

A school community safety order report on eduSafe Plus (staff login required) is designed to guide the authorised person through the procedural requirements and thresholds that need to be satisfied to issue an order. Authorised persons must use this report to report when an order is made.

Creating an incident report

If a school community safety order report has been submitted, a separate incident report must be created on eduSafe Plus per the Managing and Reporting School Incidents (including emergencies) Policy. If the behaviour that the order has been issued in response to relates to an existing incident report, a new incident report does not need to be created.

Related incident reports can be cross-referenced in a school community safety order report. If you require assistance or support to submit an incident report, contact the OHS advisory service on 1300 074 715 or safety@education.vic.gov.au

Refer to OHS Management System (OHSMS) Overview Procedure – Chapter 5 eduSafe Plus for general information about the online reporting and hazard management system.

Updating school community safety order reports

After being submitted online, an order can be updated to:

• upload a written copy of the order and any other relevant documents, such as:
  • any submissions received from the person and consideration of such submission
  • a communication and access protocol (if the person has a child enrolled at the school)
• record a breach of an order (the department will update the record to reflect the school’s intention to apply to the deputy secretary, Schools and Regional Services (SRS) to initiate enforcement proceedings, if so desired)
• upload requests from the person to have the order revoked and consideration of such a request
• vary or revoke the order.

For immediate orders, an authorised person can also update an order report to record the outcome of their immediate review of the order.

For ongoing orders, an order can be updated to:

• upload the written notice of the proposal to issue an order and update the record accordingly
• record an internal review application (the department will update the record with an outcome of the internal review)
• record an external review application (the department will update the record with an outcome of the external review)
• upload requests from the person to have the order varied and consideration of such a request.

How to report if there has been a breach of an order

If the school is aware that there has been a breach of an existing order, the principal must report the breach on eduSafe Plus by updating the relevant school community safety order record and provide a description of the instance of non-compliance.

This will notify Legal Division to contact the authorised person to provide advice and enable them to make an informed decision on next steps, including if the school wishes to seek approval from the deputy secretary, School and Regional Services to initiate enforcement proceedings.

How to report if there is a request for an internal or external review (ongoing orders only)

If the person subject to an order has applied for an internal review, the principal must update the school community safety order report and attach the Internal review application form (DOCX).

This will notify the internal review secretariat to contact the principal to provide information about the internal review process. The Internal Review Secretariat will facilitate the internal review process and will notify the principal of the decision outcome.

Legal Division will manage the external review process with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The principal will be updated with the progress and will be notified of the decision outcome.

How to report the variation or revocation of an order

An authorised person can vary or revoke an ongoing order at any time by updating the order report.

Once an order has naturally expired or has been revoked, authorised persons cannot make further updates to the eduSafe Plus record.