We know a truly child‑safe organisation is shaped with children, not just for them. When children feel safe, they explore, learn and grow into the people they’re meant to be. That’s why we’re always asking ourselves the big questions:
How can we make our spaces feel even more welcoming?
What does it really look like to listen when a child shares how they feel?
And how do we empower families to be active partners in safety?
As part of this commitment, we regularly participate in sector benchmarking to understand how we’re tracking. We’re proud to share that our family experience score is +67, above the sector benchmark of +63, reflecting the strong relationships we build and the trust families place in us.
Recently, new child safety laws, regulations and standards have come into effect across the early childhood sector. In response, we’ve updated our Safeguarding, Mandatory Reporting and Child Protection policies and launched a dedicated internal Safeguarding Awareness Campaign to ensure every teacher, educator, casual, trainee and cook understands exactly what this means in practice.
Because child safety isn’t just a checklist, it’s in the everyday moments.
We listen to children’s voices, notice the small changes, and create environments where they feel confident to speak up.
What’s changing
We want to share some of the ways we’ve strengthened our approach:
- Clearer child-safe framework
We’ve refreshed our Safeguarding Children Policy so it’s aligned with current laws and best practice. It’s built around four key principles that guide everything we do:- Creating safe environments
- Building a strong child-safe culture and purpose
- Growing our teams’ capability
- Speaking up and standing up through advocacy.
- Stronger roles and responsibilities
Every staff member, from our safeguarding team, to managers, to every teacher and educator, has clearly defined responsibilities. This includes:- Identifying and responding to risks of harm
- Following our Code of Conduct
- Knowing when and how to report concerns.
- More focus on children and families having a voice
Our updated policy now puts extra emphasis on:- Listening to children and taking their feelings seriously
- Partnering with families and carers
- Respecting the diversity of the children, families and communities we serve.
- Clear language about what we’re looking out for
We’ve added simple, clear definitions to help staff recognise different types of abuse and neglect. This supports our teams to notice when something does not feel right and to act quickly and appropriately.
The updated policy also connects to other organisational policies and procedures that help keep children safe, so everything works together as one strong framework, not as separate pieces.
If you would like to read more, here are some helpful links:
ACECQA Information Sheets – Child Safety
Office of the Children’s Guardian – Reportable Conduct
We don’t leave child safety to chance.
From careful recruitment and screening to ongoing training, clear reporting pathways and everyday reflective practice, we make sure every staff member knows their role in protecting children. We stay across best‑practice guidance and sector expectations, so families can feel confident that safety is woven into everything we do, even in the busy, messy, wonderfully real moments of childhood.
