Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum

During these last two weeks of term, our school is implementing the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum with all students  F-6. The curriculum is based on principles of best practice in child safety education and centres around three key messages: Recognise, React and Report. Students have been learning how to recognise and react when they are unsafe or find themselves in situations that can have a significant detrimental effect on their physical, psychological or emotional wellbeing. 

Report

Next week we will be implementing the final key message of the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum: report. This means that when children or young people have been in a situation that is unsafe that they are taught to report what has happened to an adult. Even if a child has been able to make themselves safe, it is vital that they still report what has happened. Adults need to know about unsafe situations so that some action can be taken to help the child be safe again or ensure it doesn’t happen again. 

Students involved in the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum will be encouraged to make a list of adult safety helpers. These are adults the children and young people nominate whom they can talk to when they are feeling unsafe or have experienced an unsafe situation or feel they are at risk of something that may cause them harm. This list will include a selection of adults who live in and outside the home.

Report also includes telling an adult about unsafe or inappropriate incidents which may occur when children or young people are online. This might occur when surfing the net or using social media sites like Facebook and twitter, and can include cyberbullying, viewing or receiving inappropriate images or messages or communicating with unknown contacts.

It is important that the key safety messages of the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum: Recognise, React and Report are reinforced, both at school and home. I encourage you, wherever possible, to talk with your child about safety to help them stay safe now and in the future.