Tathra Public School is one of the first schools in the Bega Valley to look at making Keeping Kids Safe part of its curriculum with the message of “recognise, react, report”.
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Keeping Kids Safe is a new Child Safety Curriculum teaching personal safety and awareness, developed in consultation with Bruce and Denise Morcombe.
The Morcombes’ son Daniel was abducted and murdered in 2003.
The curriculum has been recommended at Federal Government level to be adopted in all schools from 2016.
Locally, author Melissa Pouliot is championing the curriculum after she met with the Morcombes recently.
Ms Pouliot has been heavily involved with missing persons’ advocacy across the globe and in 2013 wrote a non-fiction book called Write About Me, inspired by her cousin Ursula Barwick who went missing in 1987.
“I met with Bruce and Denise and learned about their connection to the local area - they used to holiday in Merimbula with their sons in the early 1990s and Denise came here with her parents in the 1970s,” she said.
“It was very emotional to meet with them and it’s made me very passionate about promoting the Morcombes' Child Safety Curriculum in the Bega Valley.”
Last week at Tathra Public School, Ms Pouliot gave a brief talk at the school assembly about the ideas behind Keeping Kids Safe.
Assistant principal and teacher Kylie Leung said Keeping Kids Safe fits in well with the message of child safety the school tries to promote.
“When teaching child safety we look at it from a holistic point of view, it’s about tying it with their wellbeing and their physical, mental and emotional health.
“The message of ‘recognise, react, report’ gets the children to be aware of adult behaviours they should recognise, and it also promotes the idea of having a network of five trusted adults you can speak to about this.
“This type of child safety curriculum also works in well with work we are doing about cyber safety, which is a big concern for parents and educators,” she said.
In addition to advocacy around the new Child Safety Curriculum, Ms Pouliot is also promoting Day for Daniel on October 31.
The Day for Daniel is a national day of action to raise awareness of child safety, protection and harm prevention, and participants are encouraged to wear red, the colour Daniel was wearing when he went missing.
Lumen Christi Catholic College will be holding a “mufti day” in red on October 31.
Staff will also speak to the students about staying safe and morning notices will talk about Keeping Kids Safe.
Sapphire Coast Anglican College will hold a red accessory day on October 31 with a gold coin donation.
Ms Pouliot said Sapphire Coast Buslines has also registered for Day for Daniel and all bus drivers will be wearing red.
“I realise school curriculums are filled to bursting and teachers are busy, but I feel this message of ‘recognise, react, report’ is vital to keep all our children safe,” Ms Pouliot said.
For more information, visit www.danielmorcombe.com.au.