Mid-Year Climbing Safety Standards Updates

A mid-year update was made to the helmet requirement for some Climbing safety standards. Consult Mid-Year Climbing Safety Standards Updates for more information.

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Sample Principal Checklist – Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisor Responsibilities

Communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors:

Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors are responsible for reviewing the specific activity page(s) prior to student participation in physical activity.
Inform the Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors on how to access the Ontario Physical Activity Safety Standards in Education (safety.ophea.net) or school board localized version.
Teachers may raise the safety the standards from the Ontario Physical Activity Safety Standards in Education but they cannot lower them.
Inform the Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors on how to access the information/resource listing physical activities that are school board approved or not approved.

Medical Information

Communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors:

Prior to physical activity, medical information of students must be checked using school board/school procedures.

Consult the Sample Curricular Parent/Guardian Letter and Sample Curricular Medical Information and Consent to Participate Form/Sample Interschool Parent/Guardian Letter and Sample Interschool Medical Information and Consent to Participate Form/Sample Intramural Parent/Guardian Letter and Sample Intramural Medical Information and Consent to Participate Form.

School board/school’s protocols and/or Plan of Care for students with medical conditions (for example, asthma, anaphylaxis, diabetes).

Consult Asthma and Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome (SADS).

Concussion

In-service/communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors:

School board concussion protocol (awareness, identification, management and prevention) and implementation tools.
Their role in providing information and training to students on concussion awareness and prevention specific to the activity.

First Aid

Provide school location(s) of first aid kit(s). Inform school administration when supplies need to be replenished.
Provide information on the school board/school first aid action plan and first aid emergency response.

Consult Emergency Response and First Aid.

Provide the school’s injury reporting procedures and forms that must be used for school administration, parents/guardians, and insurance provider.

Equipment

In-service/communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors:

The responsibility to visually inspect equipment prior to use.

Consult the Sample Safety Checklist – Gymnasium Equipment.

The procedures for reporting damaged/unsafe equipment to the principal and the removal from use.
The importance of informing students that protective equipment must be properly worn.

Facilities

In-service/communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors their responsibility to:

Inform students that the use of the gymnasium, activity areas and equipment is prohibited without appropriate Teacher supervision.
Visually inspect facilities prior to use.

Consult the Sample Safety Checklist – Gymnasium Facilities, and Sample Safety Checklist – Outdoor Facilities.

Use school procedures to report hazardous situations to the Principal and/or Custodian (for example, severely uneven surfaces, holes, rocks).
Use school procedures to address hazardous situations (for example, removing them).
Follow school procedures for the opening and closing of the gym divider doors/curtains.
Follow school procedures for securing permanent goal post and moving and storing portable goal posts.

Clothing/Footwear/Jewellery

In-service/communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors their responsibility to:

Communicate and enforce student expectations for appropriate clothing, footwear, and jewellery for physical activity.

Student Safety Instructions

In-service/communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors the responsibility for student safety instructions:

Students must not participate in physical activity until they have received safety instructions from the Teacher.
Safety instructions provided to students must be documented (including students in attendance, the date, the time, and safety instructions provided).

Risks of the Activity

Communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors their responsibility to:

Communicate to students the possible risks associated with the activities, ways to minimize the risks, procedures and rules to ensure safe play and the consequences of not following these procedures.

Environmental Considerations

In-service/communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors:

The school board/school procedures relating to weather and insects (for example, west nile virus, lyme disease).

Consult Weather.

Outdoor Education Activities (For Example, Canoeing)

Communicate to Teachers the school board/school procedures relating to:

Excursion approval process
Parent/guardian consent
Student medical information
Student swim tests
Student transportation

Outside Activity Provider

Communicate to Teachers and Intramural Supervisors:

The school board/school procedures relating to accessing an outside activity provider on or off site

Consult Outside Activity Providers prior to the activity.

Supervision

Communicate to Teachers, Coaches, and Intramural Supervisors that:

All activities must be supervised according to the three categories of supervision (Direct, On-Site, In-the-Area).
A Teacher, Coach, or Intramural Supervisor who is providing instruction and is unfamiliar with the activities (for example, no recent experience) must refrain from teaching the activities until assistance is provided by an appropriately trained staff or training is received.
Volunteers, Teacher candidates, and students must not be given sole responsibility for the supervision of students.
School expectations for change room conduct and the supervision of change rooms must be outlined.

Occasional Teacher

Communicate to Teachers the school board/school procedures when an Occasional Teacher will be teaching physical activity.

Additional Intramural Activity Responsibilities

Communicate to Intramural Supervisors their responsibility to:

Provide expectations regarding the philosophy and organization of the school's intramural program.
Provide and collect signed parent/guardian acknowledgement of risk, permission to participate and student medical information from each participant, prior to participation.

Consult the Sample Intramural Parent/Guardian Letter and Sample Intramural Medical Information and Consent to Participate Form.

Establish a process to ensure intramural officials are knowledgeable and trained to carry out their duties.
Provide concussion prevention information for the specific activity.
Communicate to each participant: the risks of the activity, ways to minimize risk, and rules of the activity prior to the initial start of the activity; document this communication (student name, date, safety message).
Develop and implement rules for spectators’ attendance so they do not present a safety concern.

Additional Interschool Activity Responsibilities

Communicate to all Coaches:

The coaching expectations.

Consult Coaches Expectations.

The school’s interschool philosophy regarding student participation and expectations, treatment of officials, opponents, and fair play.
The required first aid coverage for lower and higher risk activities that must be met for the duration of all practices and competitions (consult the First Aid section of the specific activity page).
The school board/school approval process for the selection of a supervisory adult to chaperone students where the Coach is not the same gender as the athlete(s) and where the athlete(s) might be required to stay overnight.
The required school board/school process for parent/guardian acknowledgement of risk, permission to participate and medical information from each participant prior to student try-out and participation.

Consult the Sample Interschool Parent/Guardian Letter and Sample Interschool Medical Information and Consent to Participate Form.

Emergency Contact/Medical Information portion of the form must be with the Coach at all practices and competitions.