Communication

Related Merici Policies

Child Protection

Teacher Role Description and Responsibilities

Catholic Education: Guidelines for Professional Conduct – In Protection of Children and Young People.

Rationale/Purpose

Effective communication is essential in our environment. Many avenues exist to facilitate communication within the College and with the community. This policy covers formal processes of communication and sets out expectations to ensure positive and effective communication in the college community. This policy includes communication processes between members of staff, students, parents, and the wider community and outside agencies.

Definitions

Communication across the College is defined as communication via personal, digital and electronic means as well as through the use of more traditional methods such as through pigeon holes and noticeboards.

Communication falls under four categories: Communication with Staff, Communication with Parents, Communication with Students and Communication with the Wider Community/ Outside Agencies.

Policy

Communication with Staff

The means of communications with staff are through:

Morning tea announcements
Staffroom noticeboards
Pigeon holes
This Week at Merici (TWIM)
Email/ Outlook
Phone calls
Personal discussions

Communication with Parents:

The means of communication with Parents is through:

Phone calls
Emails including parent alerts
SMS (if parental approval has been given)
Their daughter's homework planner
Official mail outs
Parent Teacher interviews/evenings
What’s On fortnightly newsletter
College website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
The College Yearbook

Communication with Students:

The means of communications with students should be through:

Daily Notices
Announcements during the day (Public Announcement system as well as the television monitors)
Personal discussion
College website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Communication with the wider community/outside agencies:

The means of communications with the wider community and outside agencies (including but not limited to the media, Catholic Education Office, visiting groups to the college and charities) is through any of the above listed communication methods.

Procedures

All communications with staff, parents, students and the wider community including outside agencies, should be both professional and respectful in nature according to the Teacher Role Description and Responsibilities.
Responses to internal communications should be made in a timely manner with a suggested response timeframe of 24 hours
Responses to external communications should be made in a timely manner with a suggested response timeframe of 24-48 hours, at least initially to acknowledge receipt of the email.
Any official correspondence sent through the post, should be on current Merici College letterhead stationery and should be approved by the relevant Coordinator or Executive prior to sending.