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 G8 Education network is one of Australia’s largest early learning providers dedicated to its purpose of creating the foundations for learning for life.
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 OAM.
“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 recognize 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 normalizing topics often considered embarrassing builds confidence and provides a resilience to lock predators out, reducing their risk of harm.”
Bruce and Denise said they were honoured to join the Yandina centre’s event, recognising the educators, teachers and support team for the work they are doing to keep children safe.
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”.
To learn more about the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, or their ‘Talk Early’ initiative visit the website.