Communication with School Staff Policy
Consultation with College Council: December 2024
Approved By: Principal
Date of Review: October 2027
Page Contents
Purpose, Scope
Purpose
This policy explains how Templestowe College proposes to manage common enquiries from parents and carers.
Scope
This policy applies to school staff, and all parents and carers in our community.
Policy
Templestowe College understands the importance of providing helpful and timely responses to common enquiries from parents and carers. To ensure that members of our school community are directed to the most appropriate person to assist them, the information below outlines key contacts for common queries:
to report a student absence, please contact the School on (03) 9850 6333. This can also be recorded through Compass.
to report any urgent issues relating to a student on a particular day, please contact the General Office on (03) 9850 6333.
to discuss a student’s academic progress, it is suggested to contact the classroom teacher directly through email. The contact can be found through Compass.
to discuss the health or wellbeing of a student, please contact your Community Executive Team. This can be done through email or by contacting the General Office on (03) 9850 6333.
for enquiries regarding camps and excursions, please contact the General Office on (03) 9850 6333. The General Office can direct you to the appropriate person.
to contact the careers/pathways team, please contact through the email address of careers-support@tc.vic.edu.au
to make a complaint, please contact the Community Executive Team through email or by contacting the General Office on (03) 9850 6333. Please also refer to our Complaints policy, available here.
to report a potential hazard or incident on the school site, please contact the General Office on (03) 9850 6333 or by emailing connect@tc.vic.edu.au
for parent payments, please contact our Finance Team on (03) 9850 6333.
for all other enquiries, please contact our Office (03) 9850 6333.
We will do our best to respond to general queries as soon as possible. The right to disconnect legislation makes explicit that all employees have the right to refuse to monitor, read, listen to or respond to contact that occurs outside their working hours from their employer or a third party (such as a student or a parent), unless that refusal is unreasonable.
School staff will do their best to respond to general queries as soon as possible and ask that you allow us 2 – 3 working days to provide you with a detailed response. We will endeavour to respond to urgent matters within 24 hours where possible.
School staff will not respond to e-mail or telephone communication that is aggressive, discriminatory, threatens violence, raises issues of professional competence or might reasonably be judged to be a threat to their mental health and well-being. In these instances, a member of the Principal Team will follow up on the initial correspondence sent.
Community exective contacts
The following email addresses can be used to contact the Community Executive Team:
Blue Community: Blue@tc.vic.edu.au
Gold Community: Gold@tc.vic.edu.au
Green Community: Green@tc.vic.edu.au
Red Community: Red@tc.vic.edu.au
After hours support
Some of our staff will share with you their personal mobile phone numbers. We ask that you respect their private lives outside of the normal school operational hours of 8am to 4:30pm. Should you need emergency support, please find the following supports below:
Child Protection
DFFH After hours - 1300 555 727
Parenting Support
Parent line - 1300 30 1300
Family Violence
1800 RESPECT – 1300 737 732
Box Hill Police - 8892 3200
Sexual Assault
Sexual Offence & Child Abuse Unit (SOCA – Victoria Police) - 8841 3999
After Hours Sexual Assault Crisis Line - 1800 806 292
Phone counselling
Kids help line - 1800 55 1800
Lifeline – 13 11 14
Suicide line – 1300 651 251
Grieif Line – 9935 7400
Men’s Line – 1300 789 978
Interpreting services
We can arrange for interpreting support if you are from a language background other than English and need help with understanding important educational information about your child. Contact your Community Executive Team for more information.
Requests for information
Parents and carers are generally entitled to information ordinarily provided to parents, including school reports and newsletters.
Parents and carers seeking information that is not ordinarily provided to parents are encouraged to apply for access through the Freedom of Information process, or, if the information is sought for use in court proceedings, by issuing a subpoena.
Freedom of Information requests should be directed to:
Manager – Freedom of Information Unit
Department of Education and Training
2 Treasury Place
EAST MELBOURNE VIC 3002
03 9637 3134
foi@education.vic.gov.au
Communication of this policy
This policy will be communicated to our school community in the following ways:
Available publicly on the school website
Provided to staff at induction
Discussed at staff meetings/briefings as required
Discussed at parent information nights/sessions as required
Annually referenced in Next Week @TC
Hard copy available from school administration upon request