At SDN, keeping children safe is at the heart of everything we do. In fact, the protection and welfare of children has been a focus since our earliest beginnings in 1905.

We are a Child Safe Organisation whose purpose is to promote and enhance children’s wellbeing, learning and development in inclusive environments.  

Children have a right to learn and grow in safe spaces and families want to know their children are in safe hands.  

Our child safe culture is championed at all levels of SDN and is enshrined in our policy framework and our practice. Everything we do is designed to safeguard children, from the physical environments of our centres in which children play and learn through to how we listen to children and promote children’s rights.

It is a priority across all our work in children’s education and care centres, children's therapies, family support services and in our advocacy work for children and families.  

Keeping children safe is everybody’s business at SDN  

Being child safe isn't only about child protection, it's also about the wellbeing of children and young people. Enhancing children's wellbeing is a core focus at SDN.

Children need a range of things for wellbeing to happen and being safe is one of them. A child who feels safe is more likely to be resilient to life's challenges, and to thrive in their learning and development. 

At SDN, we have made a Statement of Commitment to Child Safety, and our Code of Conduct sets high expectations for how our staff work with children to keep them safe. We support the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and have a legal obligation to uphold the NSW Child Safe Standards.

We report directly to our Board on children's safety and we have a robust policy and procedure framework which sets an extremely high benchmark for interactions with children and their protection from harm.

In NSW and the ACT there are also comprehensive regulatory frameworks including a Reportable Conduct Scheme administered by the Office of the Children's Guardian, which investigates reportable allegations, and stipulates how we must respond when unsafe conduct is occurring, and children are not safe. 

Please use these pages to educate yourselves on child safety and see how we keep children safe across the SDN village.