To ensure school staff understand their supervision and yard duty responsibilities.
This policy applies to all teaching and non-teaching staff at Bayswater Primary School, including education support staff, casual relief teachers and visiting teachers.
Appropriate supervision is an important strategy to monitor student behaviour and enables staff to identify and respond to possible risks at school as they arise. It also plays a vital role in helping schools to discharge their duty of care to students.
The Principal is responsible for ensuring that there is a well organised and responsive system of supervision and yard duty in place during school hours, before and after school, and on school excursions and camps and other school activities.
School staff are responsible for following reasonable and lawful instructions from the Principal, including instructions to provide supervision to students at specific dates, times and places. Supervision should be undertaken in a way that identifies and mitigates risks to child safety.
Bayswater Primary School’s grounds are supervised by school staff from 8.45am until 3.45pm. Outside of these hours, school staff will not be available to supervise students.
Before and after school, school staff will supervise the front of the Early Learning Centre and play equipment spaces.
Parents and carers will be advised through regular reminders in our eNews newsletter that they should not allow their children to attend Bayswater Primary School outside of these hours. Families will be encouraged to contact the office on 97213755 or refer to our OSHC website page for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community.
If a student arrives at school before supervision commences at the beginning of the day, the Principal or nominee staff member will, as soon as practicable, follow up with the parent/carer to:
If a student is not collected before supervision finishes at the end of the day, the Principal or nominee staff member will consider whether it is appropriate to:
All staff at Bayswater Primary School are expected to assist with yard duty supervision and will be included in the weekly roster.
A member of the leadership team is responsible for preparing and communicating the yard duty roster on a regular basis. At Bayswater Primary School, school staff will be designated a specific yard duty area to supervise.
The designated yard duty areas for our school as at August 2026 are:
Zone
Area
Zone 1
Half oval, basketball courts and Grade P - 4 play equipment
Zone 2
Half oval, soccer pitch and Grade 5/6 play equipment
School staff must:
Staff who are rostered for yard duty must remain in the designated area until they are replaced by a relieving staff member.
During yard duty, supervising school staff must:
If being relieved of their yard duty shift by another staff member (for example, where the shift is ‘split’ into 2 consecutive time periods), the staff member must ensure that a brief but adequate verbal ‘handover’ is given to the relieving staff member in relation to any issues which may have arisen during the first shift.
If the supervising staff member is unable to conduct yard duty at the designated time, they should contact the office with as much notice as possible prior to the relevant yard duty shift to ensure that alternative arrangements are made.
If the supervising staff member needs to leave yard duty during the allocated time, they should contact the office but should not leave the designated area until the relieving staff member has arrived in the designated area.
If the relieving staff member does not arrive for yard duty, the staff member currently on duty should send a message via the BPS WhatsApp group and not leave the designated area until a relieving staff member has arrived.
Students will be encouraged to speak to the supervising yard duty staff member if they require assistance during recess or lunchtime.
The classroom teacher is responsible for the supervision of all students in their care during class.
If a teacher needs to leave the classroom unattended at any time during a lesson, they should first contact the office for assistance. The teacher should then wait until a replacement staff member has arrived at the classroom before leaving.
The Principal and leadership team are responsible for ensuring that students are appropriately supervised during all school activities, camps and excursions, including when external providers are engaged to conduct part or all of the activity. Appropriate supervision will be planned for school activities, camps and excursions on an individual basis, depending on the activities to be undertaken and the level of potential risk involved, and will follow the supervision requirements in the Department of Education Excursions Policy.
Bayswater Primary School follows the department’s Digital Technologies - Responsible Use policy with respect to supervision of students using digital devices.
Sometimes students will require additional supervision, such as students with disability or other additional needs. In these cases, the Principal or delegate will ensure arrangements are made to roster additional staff as required. This may include on yard duty, in the classroom or during school activities.
In emergency circumstances our school will follow our Emergency Management Plan, including with respect to supervision.
In the event of any mandatory period of remote or flexible learning our School will follow the operations guidance issued by the Department.
This policy will be communicated to our school community in the following ways:
Policy last reviewed
August 2026
Approved by
Principal
Next scheduled review date
August 2028
This policy will also be updated if significant changes are made to school grounds that require a revision of Bayswater Primary School’s yard duty and supervision arrangements.
