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Student-to-Student Abuse and Harmful Sexual Behaviour

Policy last updated

24 March 2026

Scope

  • Schools

On this page

Date:
11 Jan 2020

Policy

Policy

The purpose of this policy is to ensure schools understand how to identify and respond to:

  • incidents, disclosures or concerns of student-to-student abuse
  • harmful sexual behaviour in children under 12.

Summary

Details

Student-to-student abuse

School staff may be the only adult in a position to identify student-to-student child abuse.

Student-to-student abuse can take many forms:

  • physical abuse
  • sexual abuse
  • child sexual exploitation
  • emotional or psychological abuse.

There are other ways that a child can experience abuse, including crimes related to change and suppression and exposure to violent extremism. Multiple types of abuse can occur at the same time.

For more information refer to the Guidance tab: Recognising different types of child abuse.

Your school must support all students involved who are enrolled at your school. This includes:

  • students who experienced abuse
  • students who use violence or engage in behaviour that causes harm
  • other students who may be affected.

Supporting these students is an essential part of your duty of care obligations.

Responding to student-to-student abuse: use the 4 Critical Actions

As soon as you believe that a student has been, or is at risk of, being abused by another student, all staff must act.

All staff must use the 4 Critical Actions for student-to-student abuse(opens in a new window). The 4 Critical Actions for responding to student-to-student abuse are:

At all times, all staff must also:

PROTECT provides detailed information on identifying and responding to student-to-student abuse. Use the links above to understand all the steps you need to take.

Responding to harmful sexual behaviour: use the 4 Critical Actions

For harmful sexual behaviour, all staff must use the 4 Critical Actions for student-to-student abuse(opens in a new window). The 4 Critical Actions for responding to student-to-student abuse are:

At all times, all staff must also:

PROTECT provides detailed information on identifying and responding to student-to-student abuse. Use the links above to understand all the steps you need to take.

Harmful sexual behaviour by students under 12 may not require police involvement because:

  • the matter does not meet the threshold for a crime
  • the student is under the age of criminal responsibility (12 years)
  • Victoria Police have told you that the matter does not require their involvement.

Harmful sexual behaviour in a child does not necessarily indicate that the child has been sexually abused. However if staff form a reasonable belief that the child using harmful sexual behaviours has been abused by another person, they must use the 4 Critical Actions to identify and respond to child abuse(opens in a new window).

For further information about harmful sexual behaviour, refer to: Harmful sexual behaviour in children under 12.

Relevant legislation

Guidance

Guidance

This guidance contains the following chapters:

  • Content warning and support for staff
  • PROTECT guidance
  • Recognising different types of child abuse
  • Harmful sexual behaviour in children under 12 years

Content warning and support for staff

Content warning and support for staff

Supporting students experiencing child abuse or who have been using harmful behaviours is stressful and hard.

It is important that you make time to care for your mental health and wellbeing. Seek help if you need too. This helps prevent secondary or vicarious trauma. It also helps you best support students.

For further information on supports available to you, visit: Wellbeing support for school staff(opens in a new window).

PROTECT guidance

PROTECT guidance

PROTECT(opens in a new window) provides child safety information for teachers, educators and staff in schools.

It's designed to help schools:

  • meet their child safety obligations
  • identify and respond to child abuse, including grooming
  • provide children and families with the right support at the right time.

Detailed guidance is available on:

Recognising different types of child abuse

Recognising different types of child abuse

Types of child abuse include:

  • child sexual abuse
  • grooming
  • physical child abuse
  • child sexual exploitation
  • emotional or psychological child abuse
  • neglect
  • family violence
  • forced marriage
  • change or suppression (conversion) practices
  • exposure to violent extremism
  • historical child abuse.

For more information, refer to: Types of child abuse and what to look for(opens in a new window).

Harmful sexual behaviour in children under 12

Harmful sexual behaviour in children under 12

Most children and young people are likely to engage in some level of age-appropriate sexual behaviour as part of typical development. Research identifies a continuum of sexual behaviours from common sexual play through to very concerning sexual behaviour.

Children with harmful sexual behaviour means children less than 12 years of age demonstrating developmentally inappropriate and/or aggressive sexual behaviour.
Harmful sexual behaviour may include:

  • frequent, repeated behaviour, for example, compulsive masturbation
  • sexual behaviour between children who do not know each other well
  • high-frequency occurrences of sexual behaviour that interfere with normal childhood activities
  • sexual behaviour associated with emotional distress
  • sexual behaviour between children of different ages and developmental levels
  • aggressive, forced and/or coerced interaction between children
  • behaviour that does not stop once the child is told to stop, or occurs in secrecy
  • behaviour that causes harm to the child or other children.

Research suggests that only a small number of children develop harmful sexual behaviour.

Staff need to consider:

  • if the behaviour is abnormal
  • if the child should be referred for specialist assistance
  • when to report an incident to the appropriate agencies.

Resources

Resources

4 Critical Actions reference guides

4 Critical Actions reference guides(opens in a new window) are for use in staff areas to provide a quick reference to guidance on the PROTECT website.

  • PROTECT 4 Critical Actions reference sheet – for abuse by an adult engaged by a government school, including grooming
  • PROTECT 4 Critical Actions reference sheet – for student-to-student abuse
  • PROTECT 4 Critical Actions reference sheet – for abuse in the family
  • PROTECT 4 Critical Actions reference sheet – for abuse in the community

4 Critical Actions posters

4 Critical Actions posters(opens in a new window) can be used in all areas of the school to promote the 4 Critical Actions and to encourage students to speak up if they don’t feel safe.

  • PROTECT 4 Critical Actions staff poster
  • PROTECT student poster – visual version
  • PROTECT student poster – for younger students or lower reading level
  • PROTECT student poster – for older students or higher reading level

4 Critical Actions templates

Templates to help you document your actions are available on PROTECT. Refer to Resources for schools(opens in a new window).

Useful department websites

PROTECT(opens in a new window) – provides child safety information for teachers, educators and staff in schools. It's designed to help school staff meet their child safety obligations, identify and respond to child abuse (including grooming) and provide children and families with the right support at the right time. PROTECT includes links to:

  • the 4 Critical Actions for each source of abuse
  • 4 Critical Actions reference guides for each source of abuse
  • staff and student posters
  • templates to help schools document their actions
  • guidance on implementing the Child Safe Standards in your school.

External websites

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