Protecting Students, Preventing Liability - a schools law Power Pair of recorded webinars

This Power Pair comprises 2 popular schools law webinars from earlier this year.

Webinar 1: When Doing Nothing is Not an Option: School Liability for Bullying

Abuse and bullying, both in the schoolyard and online, in person or through social media, continues to severely impact student victims and leave schools open to liability for failure to act. This session will examine some recent cases and provide advice on proactive steps schools need to be taking to minimise the risks of harm to students and protect schools from claims, including:

• What constitutes bullying?
• Mental health issues and other consequences of bullying behaviour
• Duty of care of schools to prevent and deal with bullying - where does it begin and end?
• When does bullying become a crime?
• Bullying as a breach of anti-discrimination laws - are the responsibilities any different?
• What reporting obligations to authorities does a school have?
• Can the board, staff and/or students be personally liable?
• Financial and other consequences for schools for breach of their duty of care and statutory obligations
• Cases and examples of school failure to prevent bullying including Oysten v St Patrick’s College (No 2) [2013] NSWCA 310; Kaplan v State of Victoria (No 8) [2023] FCA 1092; Supreme Court of NSW (T2 (by his tutor T1) v State of New South Wales [2024] NSWSC 1347)

Webinar 2: Disability Discrimination, Reasonable Adjustment and the Impact of the Royal Commission Findings on Schools

Anti-discriminations laws require education providers to accommodate children with special needs, including where practicable, to make reasonable adjustments. This requirement is not as simple as it seems and can provide a challenge in the wider school environment. This session will look at the increasing obligations for schools in accommodating special needs, including:

• What constitutes a disability?
• Unpacking the obligation to make a “reasonable adjustment” and what it means in practice
• Exceptions including “unjustifiable hardship” - cases and examples
• The impact of NDIS funding on reasonable adjustments and allocation of responsibilities and costs
• The final recommendations of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with a Disability and their effect on schools

SPECIAL PURCHASE OFFER – EOFY SALE

This pair of recorded webinars would usually cost $539, but as part of our EOFY Sale Offer you can buy the pair for only $330 if you order by 30.6.25.