Safeguarding a Generation: A Safe Place for Your Children

Our commitment to safety and child protection in an evolving, digital society.

Like many of us, you've probably heard about the tragic, child-involved incidents that have been brought to light across the country, particularly in the child care sector. These incidents are unacceptable, and as a sector - we must do better to safeguard the next generation of young people.

An Important Piece of Context

Many of these incidents have been taking place in for-profit childcares. You might ask, "What does that have to do with anything?" Well, as we're learning, it can mean a lot. For-profit organisations generally prioritise income and profit for their stakeholders. This can come at the cost of short-staffing, reduced resources or the reliance on 'temp' contract staff. This leaves holes in the system that can be exploited.

Here at Jamboree Heights OSHC, we are a Parent & Community run, non-for-profit organisation. This means it's parents, like you, who govern us. These volunteers do not take home a cent of the money we generate, and therefore all our funds are focused on making OSHC, and the wider school body, a better place for our learners. It means staffing is healthy and often over-staffed, resources, training and induction are thoughtfully undertaken and embedded, and with a staffing retention rate average of 2.5 years, we get to know our team very well. We trust every member of our team, and many of us know each other beyond work and hold one another accountable to best practices.

Does this make us invincible to malpractice or the threat of an incident? Absolutely not. But hopefully it helps in giving you peace of mind that there is already a culture that exists of prioritising children's safety, not profit.

How We're Moving Forward

We might be already compliant and satisfied with our current systems and team, but we are still reflecting and analysing what we can do better, as well as ensuring we're complaint with new laws and regulations that take effect in September.

Here's what we're doing to maintain and improve compliance, and to continue building a culture of child safety within our team.

• An update to our policies and procedures (in-progress as of 20.08.25)

• All staff will complete new, additional Child Protection training by September 1st and will not be allowed to work without completing it.

• All Responsible Persons and Management personnel will continue to complete the additional higher level of Mandatory Reporting and Child Safety training, undertaken through an RTO, yearly.

• Strengthening our accountability by always having procedures in place for managing accidents such as first aid, soiled clothes and educators escorting children.

• Maintaining two educators in an area (within visual eye-sight) or using only CCTV recorded areas where one educator is with a group.

• Continuing to engage staff in professional conversations about children's safety.

• Strengthening our induction processes.

There are a range of other practices we already undertake, and we would be happy to share these with families who are interested. Please email or speak to us in service.

Digital Devices

We also recognise that, in this digital age, mobile devices have real benefits and consequences. The government and other regulatory bodies are currently reviewing if staff should be allowed to have personal devices on them. While the easy answer is 'no,' the reality is far more complex.

Staff can have urgent medical or family calls they are waiting on, or may require it for personal health (e.g. diabetes). All staff rely on having their phone for OWNA sign in, medical forms and ultimately in the event they need to make an emergency 000 call (especially on excursions) - and buying 30 mobile phones with data plans isn't justifiably within our budget or reality.

Until we hear more concrete information about how personal devices are to be handled, we're taking the stance that staff can carry mobile devices, but with explicit and clear expectations. Photos will continue to be taken on our DSLR, service iPads or other in-service devices.

Staff may use their personal device for;

• OWNA related purposes (sign in, medical forms, dietary information)

• Approved / Management Notified phone calls

• Personal health related purposes that are pre-approved

• 000 Phone Calls

• Phone calls to a Coordinator due to limited or no radio contact

Our team have all agreed to these expectations, and we expect they will hold one another accountable to them.

Photos of Children

A large focus of the new legislation is around storage and retention of photos by services. We are implementing a range of protections, including new network infrastructure and MFA cloud photo storage. Parents are encouraged to review their choices as to whether they want photos of their children;

• Taken or Not Taken by staff

• Only posted to OWNA or printed and displayed in service

• Displayed in advertising, public records (e.g. handbook) and Facebook

Parents can update which choice they prefer via OWNA or by emailing us with their preference.

Your Voice

Children's safety is essential and cannot be compromised. We take this seriously, and that means that if you ever have concerns or are suspicious of malpractice, we encourage and expect that families make us aware of any concerns. These concerns will always be treated with genuine consideration and will be investigated - because safeguarding the next generation is our number 1 priority.

Contact Us

Enquiries: enquiries@jhoshc.com.au

Management: management@jhoshc.com.au

Resources:

• JHOSHC Child Protection Policy

• Child Protection Act (1999) - Queensland

• Report Child Abuse in Queensland

• Management Child Protection Training

• ACECQA - Child Safety Changes September 2025

• Australian Government - Protecting Children is Everyone's Business