Our POLICIES
Our policies are currently being updated (02/05/2023) Please contact us if you have any questions about our policies as they may have changed.
Child Safe Policy
Nook Dance Centre is a child safe organisation. We are committed to prioritizing the safety and best interests of the children in our Nook Dance Centre community.
We understand the nature and risks of child abuse and take deliberate steps to protect the children who attend our classes and we are committed to removing all barriers to reporting child abuse.
Nook Dance Centre acknowledges that in an organisation, all children are vulnerable but some children face additional vulnerabilities. For this reason, Nook Dance Centre is committed to:
The cultural safety of Aboriginal Children
The cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds
The safety of children with a disability.
All Nook Dance Centre staff and volunteers have agreed to adhere to the Nook Dance Centre Child Safe Policy and the Nook Dance Centre staff Code of Conduct. Failure to do so will be attended to and may result in termination of contract.
Human Resource Practices
All potential Nook Dance Centre staff members undergo a robust recruitment process. This includes a Police Check, a Working With Children check, a face-to-face interview with Tamsin and referee checks. This is to ensure that we only hire the right people who will uphold Nook Dance Centre’s values and to ensure the safety of all Nook Dance Centre students. All Nook Dance Centre staff will attend regular meetings and occasional trainings to continue to ensure that our knowledge and practices are current and of the best possible standard.
Responding and Reporting
It is mandatory that any Nook Dance Centre student, parent or staff member who suspects an incident of child abuse of any kind must report this to the Child Safety officer, Tamsin McLinden.
**If a person is in immediate danger, 000 must be called immediately**
What to report:
If a child discloses an incident of abuse or harm.
Allegation, suspicion or observation of abuse or harm.
Breach of Code of Conduct by a Nook Dance Centre member of staff.
Environmental safety issues of any kind at Nook Dance Centre.
Who to report to:
Child safety officer: Tamsin McLinden, via phone, email or in person.
What action will be taken:
The child safety officer will:
Offer support to the child, the parents, the person who reports and the accused staff member or volunteer.
Initiate internal processes to ensure the safety of the child, clarify the nature of the complaint and commence disciplinary process (if required).
Decide, in accordance with legal requirements and duty of care, whether the matter should/must be reported to the police or Child Protection and make a report as soon as possible, if required.
Serious Medical Conditions Policy
Nook Dance Centre must be made aware of any serious medical conditions prior to a child attending any class with us. An action plan must be put into place in case of medical emergencies.
Injury Policy
Dance is an activity that comes with some risk of injury.
Students with a pre-existing injury of any kind must advise Nook Dance Centre prior to commencing any class.
Injuries are taken seriously at Nook Dance Centre. To put things simply: ‘If it hurts, don’t do it!’.
The health and safety of our students will always be put first, so we will never allow a student to dance if they are injured (unless advised by a physio /osteo on specific movements that are allowed).
There will always be an adult trained in First Aid present at every Nook Dance Centre class or event. Should a child sustain an injury during classes at Nook Dance Centre, the first aider will assess the injury and decide if the injury is minor, moderate or serious. The actions taken will depend on the severity of the injury.
Below is a basic outline of how injuries will be dealt with at Nook Dance Centre.
Minor injury:
Detailed injury report filled out and kept on file.
Student may continue with some/all aspects of the class as long as no pain is experienced.
Parent or carer advised of the injury when collecting the child and will receive an email following up on the injury during the week.
(In the case of Preschool aged students, parent will be advised immediately, as preschool parents are required on premises for duration of class)
Moderate injury:
First aid will be immediately applied to the student and the student may be advised not to continue with aspects of the class and instead given different tasks to complete e.g; written tasks or stretches/conditioning exercises that do not impact on the injury.
Detailed injury report filled out and kept on file.
Parent or carer advised of the injury immediately by phone (if deemed necessary by Nook Dance Centre staff), or when collecting the child and will receive an email following up on the injury during the week.
(In the case of Preschool aged students, parent will be advised immediately, as pre- school parents are required on premises for duration of class)
Serious Injury:
First aid will be immediately applied to the student.
000 will be called if deemed necessary by the first aider.
Parent or carer advised of the injury immediately by phone or in person if on the premises.
Photo/video Policy
Nook Dance Centre reserves the right to take photos and videos of its students for promotional purposes. If you do not want your child's photo to be taken for these purposes, you must advise us on enrolment.
For child safety, we do not allow anyone other than Nook Dance Centre staff to take photos/videos of students during classes.
Photos/videos taken of students before or after classes are not the business of Nook Dance Centre.
No Nuts Policy
To protect students with allergies, we do not allow nuts of any kind to be brought onto the premises. If you have been consuming nuts prior to coming to class, please ensure you wash your hands thoroughly beforehand.
Refund policy
Refunds of fees will only occur if classes are cancelled/postponed by Nook Dance Centre or in some special circumstances, which will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
waiting area policy
We do not allow family and friends to be in the studios/halls while our classes are taking place unless specifically asked by your child’s teacher (E.g. if your child is feeling anxious without you). If staying on the premises (particularly for parents/carers of Preschool aged students) please use the allocated waiting areas at our venues. For our Kinderballet classes, we hold an open day on the last day of each term to give family and friends the opportunity to see what we have been learning during the term. For all other Nook Dance Centre students, the mid-year and end of year performances are a great opportunity to watch our students dance!
Preschool parents are required to stay on the premises for the duration of the class. Nook Dance Centre is responsible for children inside the hall during class times, we are unable to be responsible for children who are not inside the hall. Nook Dance Centre staff cannot take children to the toilet, and (due to being in a public space) we cannot allow any preschool aged children to go to the toilets alone. If you do need to leave the premises for any reason, please arrange for another parent or carer from your child’s class to be responsible for taking your child to the toilet if required.
Privacy Policy
We respect your privacy. We will not share your personal information provided to us (when enrolling or making an enquiry) with anyone else.