Child Safety Statement
“We need to lead in our local context to honour the national commitment to child safety” Nicole Talarico – Asserting a culture of child safety
We have Zero Tolerance – which means we do report all suspected cases of abuse:
This includes physical, sexual, emotional, neglectful, financial, exploitation, spiritual, cultural, or being a witness to family violence. As citizens we all have an obligation to protect children and report concerns about children’s welfare, this includes you!
Preventative Educational Pedagogy:
Our preventative educational pedagogy views children as capable of speaking up and advocating for their rights, if they know what these are. For this reason, we teach in an age-appropriate way about body safety and autonomy, consent, family violence, protective behaviours, safety and emotional literacy, and The United Nations Rights of the Child.
“Preventative education is everyone’s responsibility so that children can champion for their own safety.” Nicole Talarico
Empowering children to speak up:
We have clearly documented procedures created by and for the children that empowers and encourages them to speak up if they are feeling unsafe, unhappy, unfairly treated, or if they are witnessing violence at kinder, home, or in the community. These procedures help children to understand who they can talk to. Please see attachment 1 – Problem Procedure.
Protecting children through deep listening:
We apply an approach of deep listening to children by standing or sitting at their level, and taking the time to be present in listening to what the children are saying. We are teaching the children that what they have to say is important to us, that we value their voices and take what they say seriously. We aim to never minimise their experiences, so that warning signs will never be overlooked and will always be reported in line with our ethical responsibilities, policies, procedures and training.
Recognition of the Family Violence Reforms:
In line with Victoria’s 2020 Family Violence Reforms aimed at ending family violence in the next 10 years, as a service we want families to know that we are here to support you in loving and warm ways whatever your experiences are. Our kindergarten is a safe space for you to come, have a cuppa, share your experiences, and ask for help. Your experiences will always be kept confidential, and we can support you in linking in with community services who can help.
Organisational Considerations:
The safety and wellbeing of children is the primary focus of our kindergarten in line with the 11 Child Safe Standards for Victoria. We embed ideas of equity and equality for all community members with particular attention paid to Aboriginal children and those from culturally and or linguistically diverse backgrounds as well as those with disability. Families participating in our kindergarten programs need to have a WWCC, and staff are properly vetted in line with the national law and regulations for early childhood services. Staff are mandated to speak up if they believe that children are at risk of harm in our service, and appropriate procedures are followed including those under the Reportable Conduct Scheme which is designed to protect children in organisations such as ours by providing an independent body which investigates allegations of abuse.
This includes physical, sexual, emotional, neglectful, financial, exploitation, spiritual, cultural, or being a witness to family violence. As citizens we all have an obligation to protect children and report concerns about children’s welfare, this includes you!
Preventative Educational Pedagogy:
Our preventative educational pedagogy views children as capable of speaking up and advocating for their rights, if they know what these are. For this reason, we teach in an age-appropriate way about body safety and autonomy, consent, family violence, protective behaviours, safety and emotional literacy, and The United Nations Rights of the Child.
“Preventative education is everyone’s responsibility so that children can champion for their own safety.” Nicole Talarico
Empowering children to speak up:
We have clearly documented procedures created by and for the children that empowers and encourages them to speak up if they are feeling unsafe, unhappy, unfairly treated, or if they are witnessing violence at kinder, home, or in the community. These procedures help children to understand who they can talk to. Please see attachment 1 – Problem Procedure.
Protecting children through deep listening:
We apply an approach of deep listening to children by standing or sitting at their level, and taking the time to be present in listening to what the children are saying. We are teaching the children that what they have to say is important to us, that we value their voices and take what they say seriously. We aim to never minimise their experiences, so that warning signs will never be overlooked and will always be reported in line with our ethical responsibilities, policies, procedures and training.
Recognition of the Family Violence Reforms:
In line with Victoria’s 2020 Family Violence Reforms aimed at ending family violence in the next 10 years, as a service we want families to know that we are here to support you in loving and warm ways whatever your experiences are. Our kindergarten is a safe space for you to come, have a cuppa, share your experiences, and ask for help. Your experiences will always be kept confidential, and we can support you in linking in with community services who can help.
Organisational Considerations:
The safety and wellbeing of children is the primary focus of our kindergarten in line with the 11 Child Safe Standards for Victoria. We embed ideas of equity and equality for all community members with particular attention paid to Aboriginal children and those from culturally and or linguistically diverse backgrounds as well as those with disability. Families participating in our kindergarten programs need to have a WWCC, and staff are properly vetted in line with the national law and regulations for early childhood services. Staff are mandated to speak up if they believe that children are at risk of harm in our service, and appropriate procedures are followed including those under the Reportable Conduct Scheme which is designed to protect children in organisations such as ours by providing an independent body which investigates allegations of abuse.
At Hampton Community Kindergarten we actively safeguard our children to ensure their safety is never compromised.
We thank our families and the local community for their support, because protecting children is everyone’s business.
We thank our families and the local community for their support, because protecting children is everyone’s business.