Updated 20260810

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.

Training for 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 which can be done as an individual or in a group.
  • Level 2 is required for all working directly with children. This is an online questionnaire based course which can be done as an individual or in a group.
  • 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 send their certificate to St. John’s office to show they are able to take part in the church activities they have nominated for.

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.

Safe Ministry online training


Clearances for service

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.

Please note from November 1, 2026, the volunteer and paid roles that are required to have a clearance for service by the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne will include:

Those who are working directly with children. Parish council members. Church wardens. Parish administrators. Op Shop coordinator. Service/worship leaders. Those who welcome people to worship. Music team leaders. Life group leaders. Pastoral care team members. Leaders of evangelistic teams. All those involved in healing ministries.

A clearance for service requires the following steps that are best done in this order.


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 those who require a clearance for service by our Diocese. They are renewed every five years. They are free for volunteers but attract a cost for those whose paid work requires this check.

You can apply for a WWCC using this link:

https://service.vic.gov.au/services/working-with-children

National Police Record Checks (NPRC) is a once off background record check administered by the Victorian Police. For those who have lived overseas for more than 12 months in the past decade, an International Police Record Check will also be required. 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 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. Please contact us if you need to obtain a national police record check for your voluntary work at St. John’s that you would like us to pay for.

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.

You will need two character referees for an application to volunteer in our op shop or for a clearance for ministry. Please let your referees know in advance of your applications so they are expecting to receive questionnaire links from Kooyoora or phone calls from St. John’s staff.

Clearance for service. To apply for a clearance for service, you will first need to login to the Kooyoora service by creating an account to start your application. You all need to upload electronic versions of your identity documents as well as your WWCC and NPRC (or International check). The process will also ask you questions about your personal history for the Kooyoora team to check.

Here is the link to the Kooyoora registration page:

https://osca.kooyoora.org.au/forms/register/add

And another link to the login page:

https://osca.kooyoora.org.au/login

Archbishop’s license is required by all working as clergy or authorised lay ministers in the Melbourne Diocese. To receive the license they must also undertake a clearance for ministry from Kooyoora. This clearance involves all the checks required of a clearance for service plus a more extensive questionnaire and background check. A license is renewed every three years for permission to officiate clergy, five to ten years for vicars (ministers or pastors) 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)

More details Here is a link to the safer ministry section of the Melbourne Anglican Diocesan web site.
https://www.melbourneanglican.org.au/safe-ministry/

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 on 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. You can request more information about our property safety by contacting us.