Leisure Activities in Residential Facilities Procedures

Guidance

These procedures recognise that the residential facility is a student’s home away from home. The spirit of these procedures is to provide a balance between students enjoying a lifestyle similar to one experienced at home while protecting them from risk of harm when under the Department’s care.

These procedures do not apply to:

• Low risk everyday leisure activities occurring on site (such as most sports, crafts and gaming). These activities are an accepted part of boarding life, are not subject to these procedures, and do not require specific parental consent. College staff continue to maintain a duty of care to monitor these activities to protect students from risk of harm
• Clubs and associations. Students who are members of sports clubs, gyms and/or other associations (e.g. cadets) sign out of the college to attend training and games. Supervisors need not be present after students have been handed into the care of these bodies. (For the avoidance of doubt, this includes aquatic clubs e.g. a swimming, surf or yacht club.)

Refer to the Leisure Activities Flowchart (Appendix A) outlining the steps to plan, prepare, and proceed with leisure activities.

Guidance

Endorsement from line managers to plan activities does not need to be documented. The intent is that the effort and resources spent on planning activities are directed toward those that are likely to proceed.

Completion of the Leisure Activity Planning Form addresses risk, supervision and other planning requirements that need to be satisfied to undertake a leisure activity.

A Leisure Activity Planning Form is mandatory for all off‑site leisure activities and is encouraged for on‑site activities that carry increased risk exposure.

Recurring activities can be authorised through one Leisure Activity Planning Form. Similar activities where risks are broadly the same can also be documented and authorised through one Leisure Activity Planning Form.

Staff should not organise the type of activities that require waivers. Staff should not sign waivers or ask parents/carers to sign them.

Staff should also be aware that waivers, disclaimers or indemnities may be obscured within certain terms and conditions of sale. Some external venues are prepared to give up or amend their waivers to enable students to access their activity and staff can suggest this option to the provider.

To cover their legal liability, external providers/venues must have a minimum $20 million public liability insurance cover and, if appropriate, a minimum of $5 million professional liability insurance cover. Further information on insurance is available from legal services, by email legalservices@education.wa.edu.au.

Guidance

A risk assessment involves identifying and assessing risks and then implementing strategies (referred to as ‘controls’) to treat (i.e. reduce) the risk. The objective is to reduce the level of risk to within a tolerable range.

For further guidance on risk management, refer to the Risk and Business Continuity Management Policy.

Risk assessments and monitoring should consider relevant risk factors such as, but not limited to, the:

• environment
• students’ capacity
• activities conducted
• equipment
• capabilities of the supervisor/supervisory team
• involvement of external providers
• students’ cultural safety.

Documented risk assessments may be undertaken once for recurring and similar leisure activities or individually for one‑off activities. A template risk assessment is included in Appendix C.

Risk is dynamic and should be constantly monitored before and during leisure activities. Monitoring of risk does not need to be documented. A final check of the assessed risk should be performed before the leisure activity is approved to commence.

As part of the post-activity review (Appendix F), the risk assessment and monitoring should be analysed to determine if they were correct and/or appropriate. This analysis should be used to inform future risk assessments.

Guidance

A student’s participation in a leisure activity is subject to receipt of the signed informed consent form. Parents provide their informed consent in writing using the relevant form for the specific leisure activity. Informed consent can be received annually for recurring activities.

For every leisure activity, parents should be provided with all relevant information.

Annual Informed Consent Form:

Parents complete signed documentation (Appendix D) to confirm that they:

• understand the nature of the leisure activities their child is likely to participate in
• approve their child’s participation
• understand they may withdraw their approval at any time
• will provide relevant additional medical information not already held by the college relating to their child.

It is recommended that annual informed consent forms include as many activities as possible so that parents need not be contacted on each and every occasion. Include all recurring activities and those that are expected, planned or which may be considered.

It is best to provide annual informed consent forms to parents at the start of the year so that students can receive the required permissions as soon as practicable upon their admission to the college.

Single Use Informed Consent Form:

Parents complete signed documentation (Appendix E) to confirm that they:

• understand the nature of the leisure activities their child will participate in
• approve their child’s participation
• will provide relevant additional medical information not already held by the college relating to their child.

Depending on the nature and specific activities of the leisure activities, further advice and details may need to be included.

Where relevant, college staff should provide details of:

• travel date and times
• venue/s and activities
• transport details
• planned activities
• supervisory team
• costs
• meal arrangements
• any additional information regarding special clothing or item requirements.

Guidance

Generally, authorisation to prepare for leisure activities should take place well before the activity is intended to proceed.

Low risk leisure activities can be authorised by college managers and residential managers. The Manager Residential Colleges and principals can also authorise low risk leisure activities if they choose.

Medium risk activities can only be authorised by the Manager Residential Colleges and principals.

Guidance

The concept of ‘approval’ to proceed with a leisure activity is ongoing. In practice, approval is required prior to leaving college grounds; while in transit; upon arrival at the location; and throughout its duration. College staff should be monitoring risk at all times to assess the safety of students.

The final check of the assessed risk before the leisure activity is approved to commence does not need to be documented.

College managers and residential managers may nominate an alternative staff member (or members) to approve leisure activities for situations where they may be unavailable.

Guidance

College managers and Residential managers conduct a post-activity review (Appendix F) to determine:

• if the planning was adequate and if the documented risk assessment was correct and appropriate;
• how the incident was handled; and
• what to do differently next time.

To facilitate continuous improvement, post-activity reviews are encouraged following all off-site leisure activities.

Notifiable incidents directly impact on the health and wellbeing of students and/or staff and should also be recorded in the Online Incident Notification System (OINS).

Guidance

The leisure activities file may be electronic or hard copy.

Where documented risk assessments and informed consent forms have been completed for recurring leisure activities, they need only be recorded in the file once per year. They do not need to be copied each time a leisure activity proceeds.

A record of students’ whereabouts should be accurately maintained at all times in REACH.