The child safety and Best Start, Best Life reforms are an opportunity to create a stronger early childhood system, where every child’s experience is high quality and safe.
As more services prepare to deliver Pre-Prep next year, and as Pre-Prep starts across Victoria for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children from a refugee or asylum seeker background and children who have had contact with Child Protection services, look for ways your service can further embed a child safety culture.
What you can do
To enhance child safety and wellbeing ahead of Pre-Prep starting for children from a priority cohort, you can:
- check the School Readiness Funding Menu for child safety and wellbeing programs and supports. These include body safety education and trauma-informed practice
- familiarise yourself with how to respond to and report child abuse in early childhood
- review your mandatory reporting responsibilities and legislation
- revisit the Child Safe Standards and discuss with your teaching team how they are reflected in your practice
- use resources and webinars on children’s safety and safeguarding on the Early Childhood Australia Learning Hub
- read the National Quality Framework Child Safe Culture Guide. It includes ways to create, maintain and improve a culture of child safety, and reflect on your role in taking action.
It’s important to talk to families about your commitment to child safety. You can reference the Child Safe Standards and National Quality Framework and give examples of how your service keeps children safe. This can include measures such as the restrictions on personal devices.
Further resources available
- Child safe practices for digital technologies and personal electronic devices
- Rapid Child Safety Review
- Expanding your early childhood education programs — Change management toolkit
- Delivering Pre-Prep to children from priority cohorts
Find out more
For further enquiries, contact the Child Safety Taskforce by email: childsafetyreform@education.vic.gov.au
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