New Community Ringwood exists to make courageous followers of Jesus Christ. We endeavour to honour God and each other through seeking the health and wellbeing of every participant in our community.
 
The NCR Health Community Policy aims to:

• To ensure that all people are respected and valued, irrespective of their gender, age, country of origin, cultural heritage, socio-economic background or ability.
• To ensure that leaders and programs are safe.
• To minimise the risk of abuse, misconduct and the misuse of positional power within the community.
• To ensure that all cases of suspected abuse and misconduct are handled in a consistent, unbiased and thorough manner.

We affirm that all people have the right to be emotionally, physically and spiritually safe, to be respected, and to have their views and opinions valued at all times. We aim to achieve this through fostering:

• Healthy Leaders
• Healthy Programs
• Healthy Governance

 
_{HEALTHY LEADERS}
We commit to:
a. Healthy recruitment of leaders - We will appoint all Staff and Leaders at NCR according the NCR Recruitment Procedure. (App #1)

• We utilise screening practices for those working with children, including using the Working with Children Check Guidelines and a minimum 6 month’s prior community involvement.

b. Adequate training of leaders - We require that all Senior Leaders, Staff and Volunteers are trained according to the NCR Healthy Community Training Procedure. This includes: (App #2)

• Senior Leadership, Staff and Key Ministry Leaders attend a Safe Church Awareness Workshop every 3 years
• All Volunteers participate in a NCR Healthy Community training program every 3 years.
• All Leaders to attend additional ministry-specific training as required by program coordinators.
• A commitment from all leaders to model the NCR Leader’s Code of Conduct.  (App #3)

c. Ongoing supervision of leaders – We commit to ongoing supervision and support for leaders according to leader review process (App #4)

• We are committed to the ongoing review of our leaders and volunteers
• We will endeavour to provide ongoing opportunities for growth and development

HEALTHY PROGRAMS
We commit to:

1. Healthy relationships – We will seek to build and maintain relationships that are respectful and enriching within all of our programs. 
   • We value all people involved and will encouraging participation and inclusivity in our programs.
   • We will provide opportunities for participants to contribute ideas and provide feedback to program coordinators.
   • We will obtain appropriate information relating to the program participants, including children’s health and family situation, to ensure that we are able to care for their needs.
2.  Safe environments – All of our Leaders will exercise a duty of care in the establishment and maintenance of safe environments for our programs. 
   • We will complete Risk Assessments (App #5 or #5A for Engage) for each program and are committed to minimising risk.
   • We will keep Risk Assessments in a risk register which will be reviewed annually.
   • We will keep an up to date Children's Ministry Policy and Procedures Manual. (App #6)
   • We adhere to relevant policies regarding immunisation (App #7) and Allergies (App #8).
3.  Program reviews – Our programs will undertake regular reviews to actively assess and promote healthy relationships and safe environments. 
   • All program coordinators will complete a Yearly Approval for Ministry Form for approval by Senior Church Leadership. (App #9)
   • Incident reports are available to all program coordinators, they are utilised as required and appropriate follow-up action is taken. (App #10)
   • Ensure MFE is up to date emergency evacuation policies.

HEALTHY GOVERNANCE
We commit to:
a. Responding to concerns and allegations – We will take all concerns and allegations of harm (abuse) or misconduct seriously and support people through the reporting process.

• We will appoint a Safe Church Concerns Person to be a point of contact and to assist with any concern or disclosures of harm or misconduct. (App #11)
• We will adhere to the guidelines set out by the Baptist Union of Victoria in relation to reporting proceedures includuding Mandatory reporting. (App #11B)
• All leaders will report disclosures or concerns of child abuse by seeking assistance from the Safe Church Concerns Person and following the NCR Reporting Procedure. (App #12)
• Where a staff member has an allegation of misconduct made against them, the Professional Standards Worker at the Baptist Union of Victoria’s will be involved.
• Ensure that we follow the NCR Grievance Procedure (App #13)

b. Transparency/Accountability

• Commit to the orderly upkeep of all Administration requirements (App #14) and work with in our Sustainability Policy (App #15) and Privacy Policy (App # 15A)
• Transparency and accountability with regard to Finances (App #16) including Delegation of Authority (App #17)
• We commit to complying with all processes in the NCR Constitution.

c. Insurance, Legal, WHS

• Public liability – complying with their expectations/requirements

Assurance Checklist:
We will:
Review this Healthy Community Policy every three years
Review all Healthy Communty proceedures every two years.
Review Healthy Community Practices annually.
Review all Working with Children Checks every 6 months.
Review compliance of Children’s leaders and youth leaders quarterly.
This will be undertaken by a non-staff, non-church council member and will include discussion, documentation and observation.
 
 
Healthy Community Policy Appendix Contents
 

Appendix Number	Title	Page
#1	Volunteer Recruitment Process
#1A	Volunteer Application
#1B	Volunteer Interview
#2	Healthy Community Training Procedure
#3	Volunteer Code of Conduct
#4	Leader Review Process
#4A	Staff Reviews Detail
#4B	Staff Review Form
#4C	Volunteer Review Form
#5	Activity Risk Assessment Form
#6	Children’s Ministry Policy and Procedures Manual
#7	Immunisation Policy
#8	Allergy Awareness Policy
#9	Approval For Ministry
#10	Incident/Injury Reporting Form
#11	Safe Church Concerns Person
#11B	Mandatory Reporting Protocols
#12	Reporting Procedure
#13	Grievance Procedure
#14	Administrative Requirements Schedule
#15	Sustainability Policy
#15A	Privacy Policy
#16	Financial Accountability Policy
#17	Delegation of Authority Policy