Bruce and Denise Morcombe have visited one of G8 Education’s early learning centres on the Sunshine Coast just days after the provider was awarded Queensland Child Protection Week – Child Safe Organisation for 2022.
The visit to Community Kids Yandina 1 coincided with Child Protection Week, and saw the Morcombe Foundation’s educational resource manager, Bianca Davis, address families on the importance of ‘talking early’ about personal safety with children.
“Parents and carers need to be able to have brave conversations with their children,” said Denise Morcombe.
“They need to talk to them about their body parts, teach their kids the proper names for their body parts, talk to them about how they feel, teach them to recognise unsafe situations, talk to them about how to react, teach them to say no, run, scream tell someone, teach them that they have the right to be safe.
“By normalising topics often considered embarrassing builds confidence and provides a resilience to lock predators out, reducing their risk of harm.”
Community Kids is part of the G8 Education network, one of Australia’s largest early learning providers dedicated to its purpose of creating the foundations for learning for life.
Community Kids Yandina 1 Centre Manager Simone Binnerts said child safety was their highest priority at the centre.
“We prioritise creating secure, child-friendly and engaging environments where our children are respected and valued,” she said.
“Our centre, like every G8 Education centre, has a Child Protection Champion who works to embed best practice, and encourage our teams to participate in on-going training.
“Child safety is of course critical to the wellbeing of each child and we also know that children must feel safe and secure so they can flourish and learn.
“The Foundation’s presentation was incredibly informative, and I am sure many of our families, educators and teachers will take away some valuable strategies and resources.”
Bruce and Denise said they were honoured to join the centre’s event, recognising the educators, teachers and support team for the work they are doing to keep children safe.
“Congratulations on being awarded Child Safe Organisation for 2022, it is very well deserved. We know you would have worked hard to obtain this award,” said Bruce Morcombe.
G8 Education’s child protection manager Sophie Wilkie said she was honoured to receive the award on behalf of the organisation, but noted the work doesn’t stop here.
“Our purpose is to create the foundations for learning for life and that extends to the classroom and daily life,” she said.
“We will continue to create safe and secure spaces every day that allow our children to have their voices heard.“
