CHILD SAFETY STATEMENT

Wonnai Preschool is committed to providing a child safe environment for all children which ensures their safety, health and wellbeing.

Wonnai Preschool will act in the best interests of each child and values above all else the right of children to feel safe, and be safe at all times. Wonnai Preschool has zero tolerance for child abuse.

Wonnai Preschool undertakes to:

  • Promote the cultural safety of all children including those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds as well as emphasising the cultural safety of Aboriginal children;

  • Actively manage the risks of abuse or harm to each child, including fulfilling our duty of care and legal obligations to protect children and prevent any reasonable, foreseeable risk of injury or harm;

  • Intervene when a child may be at risk of abuse or neglect;

  • Involve children in child safety including listening to children and incorporating their views about how to provide a safe environment; and

  • Promote the safety of children with a disability.

Every person involved in Wonnai Preschool has a responsibility to understand the important and specific role he/she plays individually and collectively to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all children and young people is at the forefront of all they do and every decision they make. It is therefore important that all staff, committee members, volunteers, contractors and all other relevant parties promote the values contained herein (and detailed further in our Child Safe Environment Policy) and continue to:

  • Foster opportunities for each child to participate, express their views and to learn and develop. We actively encourage all children who use our service to ‘have a say’ about things that are important to them;

  • Take all reasonable steps to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of children at all times, whilst also promoting their learning and development; and

  • Continuously improve the way our service identifies risks of, and responds to, child abuse, and encourages reporting and improved responses to allegations of abuse.

In its planning, decision-making and operations Wonnai Preschool will:

  1. Take a preventative, proactive and participatory approach to child safety;

  2. Value and empower children to participate in decisions which affect their lives;

  3. Foster a culture of openness that supports all persons to safely disclose risks of harm to children;

  4. Respect diversity in cultures and child rearing practices while keeping child safety paramount;

  5. Provide written guidance on appropriate conduct and behaviour towards children;

  6. Engage only the most suitable people to work with children and have high quality staff and volunteer supervision and professional development;

  7. Ensure children know who to talk with if they are worried or are feeling unsafe, and that they are comfortable and encouraged to raise such issues;

  8. Report suspected abuse, neglect or mistreatment promptly to the appropriate authorities;

  9. Share information appropriately and lawfully with other organisations where the safety and wellbeing of children is at risk; and

  10. Value the input of, and communicate regularly with, families and carers.

Recruiting staff and volunteers: Wonnai Preschool applies the best practice standards in the recruitment and screening of staff and volunteers. We interview and conduct referee checks on all staff and volunteers and require police checks and Working with Children Checks for relevant positions. Our commitment to Child Safety and our screening requirements are included in all advertisements.

Supporting staff and volunteers: Wonnai Preschool seeks to attract and retain the best staff and volunteers. We provide support and supervision so people feel valued, respected and fairly treated. We have developed a Code of Conduct to provide guidance to our staff and volunteers, all of whom receive training on the requirements of the Code. We also require all supporting staff and volunteers to provide us with Working with Children Checks.

Reporting a child safety concern or complaint: Emma Anderson has been appointed to the role of Child Safety Person with the specific responsibility for responding to any complaints made by staff, volunteers, parents or children. Our complaints processes are outlined in the Complainants and Grievances policy.

Risk Management: We recognise the importance of a risk management approach to minimising the potential for child abuse or harm to occur and use this to inform our policy, procedures and activity planning. In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children.