Updated 20260618
Our church is committed to continuing to develop a safer environment for everyone. We do this by training our volunteers and having external checks and audits on our people and our property. Volunteers and staff involved in our Children’s programs go through a safe ministry clearance process with a professional standards body called Kooyoora. This includes Working With Children Checks, Police Record Checks, and reference checks.
Safer ministry
Safe Ministry Training is a regular course of online training renewed each three years.
- Level 1 is required for all on church rosters or volunteering in our op shop. This is an online questionnaire based course.
- Level 2 is required for all working directly with children. This is an online questionnaire based course.
- Level 3 is required for all clergy and authorised lay ministers, those on parish council or leading children’s ministry. This training is conducted in a live online meeting.
It is the responsibility of the parish to ensure its volunteers have the appropriate training. Once a volunteer completes their training, they should send their certificate to St. John’s office.
Clicking the button below will take you to the Safer Communities online training page. If you use that resource you will need to pay for the training yourself. To use our parish pre-paid resources please contact our office.
Clearance for service is a safe ministry check for lay people run by Kooyoora, an independent professional standards body. A clearance for service is currently required for those who work directly with children as well as lay members who are trustees of the Diocesan corporation, members of Diocesan council or the Diocesan corporation.
Working with Children Checks (WWCC) is an ongoing background record check administered by the Victorian Department of Justice. These are required by State law for those working directly with children and are renewed every five years. They are free for volunteers but attract a cost for those whose paid work requires this check.
National Police Record Checks (NPRC) is a once off background record check administered by the Victorian Police. The NPRC covers a broader range of offences than the WWCC. These checks are arranged by the parish and applied for online using the Diocesan agreement with the not-for-profit agency, Crimcheck. A NPRC is required for those working directly with children. A new NPRC is required every five years by the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne as part of the regular clearance for service process. These checks are paid for by the parish or Diocesan administration depending on who requires it. Please contact us if you need to obtain a national police record check for your voluntary work at St. John’s.
Referees are required for those volunteering in our op shop according to St. John’s own policy (see below). They are also part of the clearance for service (for lay people) and clearance for ministry (for ordained people) processes required by Kooyoora for those working directly with children.
Archbishop’s licences are required by all working as clergy or authorised lay ministers in the Melbourne Diocese who have received a clearance for ministry from Kooyoora. This clearance involves all the checks above plus a more extensive questionnaire and background check. Licences are renewed at different times, three years for permission to officiate for locum ministers, five to ten years for vicars (lead ministers) of parishes or whenever new roles are taken on or changed. However, the three year training schedule and five year NPRC and WWCC schedules also apply to licensed clergy. These requirements are administered by the Diocese directly and are not the responsibility of the parish.
Parish policies (set by St John’s parish council)
- References. These are required for those working in our op-shop as volunteers.
- People known to us. St John’s will only have people who have been attending the parish for 12 months or more working directly with children.
- Lanyards. In 2024 St John’s brought in a system of lanyards to identify those who are
cleared for service (lay people) or cleared for ministry (clergy) by Kooyoora. This is to meet a Diocesan requirement that such people be readily identifiable during public gatherings of the parish (see Diocesan safe ministry check lists published in 2023)
Safer property
Our head office and parish council spend considerable time and resources assessing and maintaining the safety of our properties in order to meet current Victorian codes for public building safety.
Professional checks by external contractors are conducted regularly for our properties for:
- Disability access
- Fire safety
- Asbestos management
- Electrical safety
- Gas safety
- General safety and maintenance
Maintenance matters are deal with by our church wardens’ team and you can request more information about our property safety here.
St John’s West Brunswick 