Sector Update 

Five-year-old child left behind at school 

The Learning

The importance of conducting risk assessments of high-risk transition periods cannot be understated. A risk assessment is a systematic process of identifying and evaluating the potential risks so that control measures can be implemented to minimise the likelihood of an incident occurring.

It is the approved providers responsibility to ensure that policies and procedures are implemented to ensure the safety of children during high-risk transition periods. This includes obtaining the required permissions from parents/carers for the movement of children.

The approved provider should also ensure that all of their staff are aware of and follow their policies and procedures when it comes to supervising children and ensuring they are adequately supervised during school collections and excursions.

Inadequate supervision continues to be a major concern for the Education and Care Regulatory Unit (ECRU) with the education and care sector. Despite numerous media releases and notifications sent directly to the approved providers and services inadequate supervision is an ongoing issue. Previously shared information highlighted the dangers that could happen and offered support by providing advice on how to prevent incidents like this from occurring.

The Incident

A child aged 5 years old was left unsupervised during after school pickup and was unaccounted for approximately 45 minutes.

Two educators attended Spring Hill Primary School to conduct an after-school pickup and transport the children to Drovers Little Learners in Wanneroo.  One educator remained in the service vehicle with children they had already collected from another school whilst the other went to collect the children from Spring Hill Primary School.

One of the educators conveyed approximately 24 children from the school to the service on the 23-seater bus whilst the other educator stayed at the school with between five and seven other children waiting for the bus to return.  A short while later the educator returned with the bus to collect the remaining children.

Neither of the educators conducted a head count of the children who boarded the bus.  The children were conveyed to the service however one child was left behind.

The child returned to his classroom where he was discovered a short while later.  The school then informed the service that the child was still at school. The service was unaware that he was missing.

The information obtained also showed that the service did not conduct a risk assessment, as required by the regulations, prior to collecting the children.

It was also identified that the approved provider failed to obtain written authorisation for the child prior to their transport.  The approved provider had also failed to notify the Regulatory Authority within the required timeframe that a serious incident had occurred at the service.

A compliance notice was issued to the approved provider on 11 November 2022 providing 31 days to comply with a number of steps in the notice.  The approved provider failed to comply with the compliance notice within the required timeframe and only showed partial compliance with the steps outlined in the notice.

The Penalty

The approved provider, who is a sole trader, was ordered to pay a total of $16,500 including costs by the State Administrative Tribunal for contravening the Education and Care Services National Law (WA) Act 2012 (the National Law) and the Education and Care Services National Regulations 2012 (the National Regulations) in relation to:

• $5000 for section 165(1) of the National Law for an offence relating to the inadequate supervision of a child.
• $1000 for section 174(2) of the National Law for their failure to notify the regulatory authority that a serious incident had occurred within the required timeframe.
• $1000 for regulation 102B(1) of the National Regulations for failing to conduct risk assessments.
• $1000 for regulation 102D(1) of the National Regulations for failing to obtain written authorisation from parents to transport children.
• $3,500 for section 177(3) of the National Law for failing to comply with a compliance notice.

More information on the SAT order is available on the eCourts website.