At St Mark’s Preschool and Long Day Care Centre we believe that all children are unique and have the right to be protected, to be safe and feel safe. We are committed to providing for the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care. Our approach to preventing harm is embedded in our philosophy, policies and procedures.
Statement of Commitment
St Mark’s Preschool and Long Day Care Centre Statement of
Commitment to Child Safety.
Our Commitment to Children:
We commit to:
- Ensuring children's, rights, interest and wellbeing are paramount. We embed a child-first culture where children's safety, rights and best interests are foundational in our philosophy, governance and everyday interactions, modelling behavior that upholds the dignity and rights of every child (NSW Department of Education, 2021: NSW Department of Education, 2025)
- Implementing the 10 Child Safe Standards.
- Providing a safe and supportive environment for all children, including First Nations children, children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and children with disabilities.
- Ensuring that children are not exposed to any form of harmful conduct, abuse, neglect or grooming.
- Supporting and empowering children to participate in decisions that affect them and raise any issues that concern them.
- Providing children with an environment where children’s voices are sought, heard, valued and advocated for.
- Ensuring active supervision of children is provided at all times.
- Ensuring children know who to approach if they feel worried or unsafe or have any child safety concerns, including abuse, neglect or grooming.
Our Commitment to Parents, Carers, Families and the Wider Community
We commit to:
- Valuing the input of and communicating regularly with, families and carers about our expectations for providing a safe environment for children.
- Sharing information appropriately and lawfully with other organisations where the safety and wellbeing of children is at risk.
- Respecting diversity in cultures and child-rearing practices as long as child safety is paramount.
Our Commitment to Being a Child Safe Organisation:
We commit to:
- Educating everyone involved in our organisation about what it means to be a child safe organisation, so that we can prevent, detect and effectively respond to child abuse.
- Recruiting, supporting and monitoring everyone involved in our organisation to ensure their suitability by implementing rigorous child safe recruitment, induction, and practices and engaging in ongoing professional learning to ensure that every adult in our service is equipped and committed to putting children first and keeping them safe.
- Maintaining accountability and transparency by upholding robust reporting, complaints handling and record-keeping systems, demonstrating zero tolerance for inappropriate conduct and full compliance with legal obligation, including the Reportable Conduct Scheme.
- Ensuring that when family and community member interact with our organisations, they are aware that child safety is everyone's responsibility, and that their behaviour aligns with our child safe practices
- Identifying, managing and reviewing risk by regularly assessing and reviewing environments, programs and practices, policies and procedures, embedding continuous improvement processes to prevent, detect and respond to inappropriate conduct, and minimise risk of harm.
