Chair
Victoria Marsden, Head of Student Services and Counsellor, Hobsonville Point Secondary School
Sexual Assault and Harmful Sexualised Behaviour Between Students
- Navigating the school’s duty of care to protect all students and maintain a safe learning environment
- Addressing the rights of both the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator while ensuring procedural fairness, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the Evidence Act 2008 issues
- Clarifying mandatory reporting requirements, privacy laws, and the role of external agencies including Police and Oranga Tamariki in investigating and supporting these cases
- Developing robust school policies, handling parental engagement, and mitigating risks of retraumatisation or escalation
Presented by Sarah Mandeno, Barrister/Youth Advocate, Station Chambers
Learning Objectives:
- Understand schools’ legal obligations in managing sexual assault and harmful sexualised behaviour, including duty of care, reporting, and procedural fairness
- Learn strategies for developing robust policies, engaging parents, and working with external agencies to support students and mitigate risks
Description
Attend and earn 1 CPD hour
* This interactive online recording includes questions and quizzes requiring critical thinking about the topics, so you have no annual limits to the number of points/hours you can claim with this format of learning. Please verify with your CPD rules
Presenters
Victoria Marsden, Head of Student Services and Counsellor, Hobsonville Point Secondary School
Victoria has completed both a Masters in Counselling (2008) and a Postgraduate Certificate in Supervision (Counselling) at Waikato University (2017). Victoria is the Head of Te Ara Manaaki Student Services at Hobsonville Point Secondary School, with a counselling role. She leads a team of counsellors and the school nursing staff. Victoria is a fully accredited member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC) and adheres to the principles of the NZAC Code of Ethics. Victoria works within a restorative, narrative and social constructionist framework and has published and been a reviewer for articles submitted for publication in peer reviewed academic journals both within New Zealand and overseas. Victoria has presented at conferences and delivered numerous workshops on both disordered eating and creating safe environments for our Rainbow rangatahi in schools.
Sarah Mandeno, Barrister/Youth Advocate, Station Chambers
Sarah is an experienced barrister specialising in serious crime. She is a member of the Criminal Committee of the New Zealand Bar Association. Between 1999 to 2004 she worked for the Auckland Crown Solicitor’s office. She then worked in the United Kingdom. In 2006 qualified as a solicitor of England and Wales. In 2007 Sarah left her role at Field Fisher Waterhouse in London, where she was involved in the conduct of regulatory proceedings for the General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council, to rejoin the Auckland Crown Solicitor’s office, where she was a senior Crown prosecutor (2008) and an Associate (2009). Between June 2016 and January 2018 Sarah worked as a senior lawyer at the Public Defence Service, Manukau before commencing practice as a Barrister in June 2018. Since then Sarah has primarily been a Youth Advocate (PAL 1-4). She undertakes assignments as either the assigned advocate or counsel to assist the Court in the Youth Courts in Tāmaki Makarau (including Rangatahi Courts, Ngā Kōti Rangatahi, and Pasifika Court).
