First Aid Policy
Approved By: Principal
Date of Review: May 2025
Page Contents
Purpose, Scope, Definitions, Aims
Purpose
Templestowe College acknowledges its responsibility for and is committed to providing quality first aid for staff, students and visitors to the College. The College is a complex environment catering for large numbers of students and staff who may be involved in accidents of various kinds and who may at times become ill.
Scope
First aid for anaphylaxis and asthma are provided for in our school’s:
Definitions
First aid is the emergency care of the sick or injured. The benefits of first aid in the school environment are:
lives can be saved;
prompt attention to illness or injury;
permanent disability can be prevented; and
safety and safety awareness can be improved
Aims
to administer first aid in a competent and timely manner
to communicate students’ health problems to parents when necessary
to provide supplies and facilities to cater for the administering of first aid
Policy
From time to time TC staff might need to administer first aid to students at school or school activities.
Parents/carers should be aware that the goal of first aid is not to diagnose or treat a condition.
Staffing
The Principal will ensure that Templestowe College has sufficient staff with the appropriate levels of first aid training to meet the first aid needs of the school community.
Our school’s trained first aid officers are listed in our Emergency Management Plan (EMP). Our EMP includes the expiry dates of the training. A current register of staff trained in first aid is also located on TC internal hard drive (U drive Health centre).
This list is reviewed prior to camps, excursions and on an annual basis as part of the annual review of our Emergency Management Plan
Health centre will ensure that student records relating to medical conditions, including asthma and anaphylaxis plan, are kept up to date by contacting parents as required. First aid trained staff attend all school camps and will carry comprehensive information about student medical conditions and medication. This is compiled for/by staff attending the camp and that such information is also available at the College, together with emergency contact details
First aid kits
Templestowe College will maintain:
A major first aid kit which will be stored Heath Centre
3 Medium First ad kits located in the General Office
2 Large First Aid kits for Camp located in the Health Centre
2 Large First Aid kits in health centre
3 small first aid kits bum bags located in the Health centre
5 Medium first aid kits in the sports centre
1 large first aid kit for the ESDP program located in the sports centre
Workplace first aid kits Mountable are located in
Science Wing
Sports centre
Canteen
S wing
Food Tech
Tech Wing
Sustainability area
PAC kitchen
First aid Officer will be responsible to maintain first aid kits in the Health centre and General Office
Sporting Dept/ESDP/Tech/Sustainability/Science/Food Tech/Canteen/Swing will be responsible to maintain their own first aid kits and their mountable first aid cabinets.
Defibrillators
TC has purchased 3 Defibrillators 1 x sports centre (FRx Phillips) 1x general office (Phillips AED) 1x health centre Cardiac Science (this defib may not be available as it goes out with our camps). Log sheets are located with each unit to be regularly checked monthly.
Care for ill students
Students who are unwell should not attend school.
If a student becomes unwell during the school day they may be directed to health centre in A wing located near the General Office and monitored by staff. Depending on the nature of their symptoms, staff may contact parents/carers or an emergency contact person to ask them to collect the student.
First aid management
If there is a situation or incident which occurs at school or a school activity which requires first aid to be administered to a student:
Staff who have been trained in first aid will administer first aid in accordance with their training. In an emergency situation, other staff may assist in the administration of first aid within their level of competence.
In a medical emergency, staff may take emergency action and do not need to obtain parent/carer consent to do so. Staff may contact Triple Zero “000” for emergency medical services at any time.
Staff may also contact NURSE-ON-CALL (on 1300 60 60 24) in an emergency. NURSE-ON-CALL provides immediate, expert health advice from a registered nurse and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If first aid is administered for a minor injury or condition, Templestowe College Health Centre will notify parents/guardians by phone call or email and log the treatment in Edusafe Plus, health centre register and as chronicle in Compass.
If first aid is administered for a serious injury or condition, or in an emergency situation, school staff will attempt to contact parents/carers or emergency contacts as soon as reasonably practical.
If staff providing first aid determine that an emergency response is not required but that medical advice is needed, school staff will ask parents/carers, or an emergency contact person, to collect the student and recommend that advice is sought from a medical practitioner.
Whenever first aid treatment is administered to a student resulting from a student incident, injury or illness, Templestowe College will:
o record the provision of care on eduSafe Plus. If the care is provided following a recorded incident, the details are recorded through the eduSafe Plus Incident form. For all other presentations, the eduSafe Plus Sick Bay form is used.
o if care was provided in response to a medical emergency or reportable incident, follow the Department’s Reporting and Managing School Incidents Policy, including reporting the incident to the Department’s Incident Support and Operations Centre on 1800 126 126 where required to under that policy.
In accordance with guidance from the Department of Education and Training, analgesics, including paracetamol and aspirin, will not be stored at school or provided as a standard first aid treatments. This is because they can mask signs of serious illness or injury.
Communication of this policy
This policy will be communicated to our school community in the following ways:
Available publicly on the school website
Included in staff induction processes
Included in transition correspondence to new families
Annually referenced in Next Week @TC
Hard copy available from school administration upon request