Get Involved - National Child Protection Week 2022

National Child Protection Week

4-10 September 2022

Welcome to the campaign for 2022.

In 2022, National Child Protection Week will continue to embrace the overarching message that ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’. In particular, this year we will be shining a light on children growing up safe and supported.

Children and young people thrive when they grow up safe, connected and supported in their family, community and culture.

They have the right to grow up in environments that support them according to their needs, now and into the future.

This year let’s talk about how we create a supportive environment for every child.

National Child Protection Week will be looking at what works to keep children safe and supported… what children are telling us… what families are telling us… what the evidence is telling us… and how to translate this knowledge into action.

We know that too many children are not growing up safe and supported and that Child Protection systems are overloaded. There are many opportunities to change the trajectory for these children.

We can stop child abuse and neglect – and reduce its impact – by working together to make sure every child in every community has a fair go.

Quick Links

Art

Events

Ideas

Resources

Articles

Media

Theme

WEEK-LONG WEBINAR SERIES

This year’s National Child Protection Week webinar series has been carefully designed to support conversations about how we make sure every child grows up safe and supported.

You can find out more, and register for the webinars, HERE.

SOCIAL MEDIA TILES

#ncpw #ncpw22 #playyourpart

More social media tiles coming soon!

USE OUR BANNER AND LOGO

To download:
click on image then right-click to ‘save image as’.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Visit Pledge Page

Thank you to the hundreds of organisations who have sent in their logos and words about how they’ll be supporting National Child Protection Week.

To support National Child Protection Week further, we have a few more things you can do to get involved:

POSTERS

ORDER NOW!

Or download copies of the posters here.

CHILDREN’S ART ACTIVITY

Find out more

This artwork is about her neighbourhood. She would be much happier if her older brother’s school is near her house. Then, she would go to Ice cream shop or game shop with her brother.

ACT Lyons Early Childhood School - This is Diyan’s favourite part of his neighbourhood. Created using chalk pastels.

WA - The town of Kalgoorlie is always growing and you belong here

NSW - This artwork is about the neighborhood - schools, shoping malls. He would be happy if he could visit shopping malls once in a while.

QLD St Columbas OSHC - As a group, we decided what we love and what we need to see more of in our community. The flowers represent kindness & maintaining a safe environment as we seem to bloom around the ones we love. The three handprints represent respect, love, and uniting with our peers.

NSW Epping Sunshine Family After Care - All our school children drew a collaborated picture with the theme of 'Our neighborhood, we live together'All our school children drew a collaborated picture with the theme of 'Our neighborhood, we live together'.

VIC Minaret College - I want my community to have vibrant colours and kindness everywhere. It should have a school, hospital, cafe, library, park and community centre for everyone to walk and access to everything.

ACT Lyons Early Childhood School - The girls discussed with their mum all the things that they think make a community a safe and fun place to live. Then they drew a plan of what their big artwork might look like. The drew all the pieces individually, cut them out and glued them on. They wanted to use real 'trees' and sparkly grass.

NSW School Plus Worongary Neighbourhood Tree 2022 - In 2021 School Plus Worongary designed a NAPCAN Art project entry around what our ideal community/ Neighbourhood would look like? We were amazed at how wide the children thought about this and how inclusive their ideas were and what a sound sense of social justice was embedded in our service. This year we thought we would explore this further in Group times and asked the children to think about what makes a ‘fair’ community? What does it look like to have a fair community? During Group times we brainstormed what a fair community would look like? Again, we were overwhelmed with the responses the children gave. They gave a number of human qualities that reflected fairness like Thoughtful, Caring, Sustainable, Safe, Responsible, Including everyone and Rights for all. Over time the group extended this to include community services that a fair neighbourhood would have, including School, Library, Playgrounds, Disability service, Nursing homes, Farms, Ambulance and even a Buddy bench. To reflect this, the children created flags in the leaves of our tree to symbolise cultural inclusion, they drew pictures of children in the tree and made signs that included the words they came up with when brainstorming. Bonnie 10 years old, summed it up and this has become the heart of our NAPCAN Child Protection Week entry for 2022. ‘Not leaving people out because they are different makes it fair. Including difference makes our community stronger’

QLD - At St James OSHC we treat all children fairly and everyone belongs.

WA - Our neighbour is Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the poster shows places and things to support us and keep us safe and happy.

VIC - I am J. I live next to a big river that runs through the town. I like where I live because the sun sparkles onto the water. There is grass and moss that goes by the river. Where I live is really beautiful. You can see all the houses in my street. I feel safe where I live and I am very happy with my neighbourhood. There is a gap between the houses where I have drawn a tree. It is usually sunny where I live and sometimes there are clouds.

NSW - On the 18/05/2022 Maitland Family Support held a Family Fun Day for National Families Week. During this event we had the children and parents in our community help us complete this art work by telling us what love about living in our local community.

QLD _ Throughout this process the children discussed how we can be safe in our environment both at kindy and in our homes or out and about in our neighbourhood and at our Bush Kindy. We created our neighbourhood each designing things we felt were important in our neighbourhood. We did houses, our Bush kindy space, local services, cars, trees, flowers, traffic lights etc. W are so proud of our end result.

NSW - The children discussed that their community is a safe place where everyone belongs and is inclusive. The children recognised the importance of everyone working together. We discussed diversity, equality and our essential workers. The children talked about the importance of learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and all cultures within our community. They also discussed about how sustainability and nature are important in our community. They created a belonging tree with people joining hands in friendship. The tree also represented our growing and healthy community.

QLD - The Kindergarten children of 2022 were asked how could they improve their community? What makes them happy? What makes them feel safe? Their responses were to put in more parks, to care for the natural environment and to add infrastructure that brings more people: places like cafes and pools. The children also wanted to provide beds, couches, foods and shelter to the people who need them most. The children drew and painted their responses into a collaborative floor book over the course of a month. We then used their artwork to create a mixed media collage, adding photos of important places in our community. The artwork forms a map of places that are significant to us, and includes the children's definition of community: The place where the people are.

NSW - Lilah felt that everyone belongs in her community and the World. Lilah drew love hearts, representing the care and love in her community. Lilah has included her family as the centre of the tree and then included essential services important to them. Lilah's school features as important to her family. Lilah considers her community as growing and sustainable. The tree represented nature and community together.

SA - The children at Kozy Kids Glenside worked together in each room and participated in expressing their sense of belonging, teamwork, communication skills though suggesting ideas and exploring creativity. The educators and children sat down during group times and discussed their surroundings, what they like most about their neighbourhood, their safety and where they visit with family and friends. Waratah Room (6 weeks – 2 years) The Waratah babies enjoyed painting the sky and grass and got messy with sensory play. They created the sky and grass as they enjoy spending their time outdoors watching the sky and being immersed in the grass. Paperbark Room (2 years-4 years) The children in the Pre Kindy-Paperbark room created individual pieces of art by using their hands to create branches and collected leaves from outside in the garden to represent growth within the neighbourhood. Kindy Room (4years +) Kindy educators and children discussed the neighbourhood and what it has to offer. The Kindy used recycled paper to make their dream houses surrounded by fences and a school and playground. The Kindy children suggested to add clouds and sun in the sky using cotton balls for the clouds and orange paper for the sun. This was a whole centre effort, and the children at Kozy Kids Glenside are happy with the masterpiece they’ve created and the result.

VIC - My name is Manjit Kaur and I run family day care with BrightSun. I took Ashmeen Chaudhary and Angad Singh Bhatti to shopping centre to show them how to safely crossing pedestrian crossing as too many getting injured while crossing worldwide these days, so I showed them the crossing sign and what to look for and what should they do and what should not do while crossing and always crossing on green lights and they should never rush to crossing and if there is any person there who needs assistance for crossing then they must offer their help to them without any hesitation. i told them if they ever get lost in shopping centre then how and where they can ask for help. I also showed them around from outside like Library , McDonalds and other shops and how they can help parents with shopping.

NSW - My family like to go to the swimming pool

VIC - In this art work,my child incorporates all the valuable features of his life which feels him more protective and physically healthy . He demonstrate how this neighbourhood is vital for him by obsuring it in his hands. He wishes that neighbourhood could be real.

WA - Places where we can grow and be safe in Kalgoorlie-Boulder

WA - Our Loving Community of Kalgoorlie Boulder

NSW - The children spent time talking about our local Kirrawee community, describing all of the places that places we have around us that make us happy and the thing that they enjoy doing. This includes going to the café for a babycino, a trip on the train, a police station with police people to keep them safe, a walk in the neighborhood with their dog or a bike ride looking at all of the beautiful tree and insects we have in Kirrawee. The children talked about their Daycare Fauna Place a happy and safe place. All of this is represented in the artworks created by the children with coloured markers as their chosen medium. Then they created the background scene with collage materials. We LOVE our Kirrawee Community!

NSW - This collaborative arts project, created by our Three Year Old Kindergarten community at Bambou ELC, uses mixed media to visually represent our community and neighbourhood. Photography, 3D construction, drawing, sculpture and painting have been used to model and map out places which are of significance to the children’s sense of wellbeing and safety. This work captures the perspectives of the children and their families’ and tells a narrative about which places in our community and neighbourhood we feel are important to us and that we are grateful for having. Many of the children created their Kinder and home and places that they enjoy visiting with their family including parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, shops, libraries and the city. The children’s sense of understanding about how their community and neighbourhoods are connected was extended through the time they spent coming together with their peers to arrange and geographically map out the places and activities they had created into a single model. Layers of places of individual significance to the children and families are interconnected by models of cars which are the main form of transport used among our community. These cars symbolically connect our individual and shared neighbourhoods into this representation of our community which reflects the children and our families’ sense of happiness, safety and wellbeing.

WA - A focus on love in the world for everyone

ACT - The students painted their favourite features from their neighbourhoods.

WA - Kalgoorlie-Boulder has many special places

QLD - We are so proud of our creative piece of artwork that was created with Kindergarten One studio. Each child had the opportunity to express themselves in what makes them have a sense of belonging, feel safe and enjoy their community. We began our poster by discussing at group time what we love about our current community and all aspect of the community that make each child feel safe. Our Kindergarten One children utilised this time to express their understanding and what it looks like. We had numerous children suggest hospitals as safe place, “Hospitals make you feel better”, “You go to the hospital from the doctors” and “You call 000”. The children also expressed their love for different activities within their community, from visiting their library, to going to the park, chasing the ice cream truck, swimming at the beach and spending time with their loved one.

WA - In our Big Bucket youth group session, we explored everyone’s feelings on what was important to them in their neighbourhood, and what community means to them. We spoke about our likes, our dislikes, the “dream” neighbourhood, and what we felt was needed within our community. Words like “respect”, “kindness “ , “crisis boxes” , “kennels in parks for homeless dogs”.....so many wonderful ideas and feelings about what community means and the importance of it.

NSW - This artwork is about his neighbourhood. He wishes to have a black hole near his house so that criminals get stuck in it.

NSW - My family like to go to rock climbing and obstacles course

QLD - During Youth Week 2022, around 20-30 young people in the Inala community contributed to a large art mural, with a focus around collaboration and participation. The ages of the children and young people involved were from 4yrs- 25yrs, living in Inala and surrounding suburbs, including Durack, Richlands and Acacia Ridge. When creating the mural, there was discussion around what colours, patterns and designs represent the community, and how to work together to represent what was meaningful for the young people. This rose an exchange of belonging with those who contributed, centred around what designs resonated with the young person’s family, friends, or the neighbourhood, and what colours represented their individual communities and interests, resulting in a collective art piece.

NSW - My friend and me go on the scooter and skate board outside my house

NSW - This artwork is about the neighbourhood - petshop, banks and toy shops. She would be happy if she had these shops.

NSW - I like to see the family tree when I go for a walk

CHILDREN’S ACTIVITY BOOKLET

Click on the image to download the 2022 Children’s Activity Booklet!

PRINT YOUR OWN NCPW STICKERS

We’ve created 100 x 100mm print-ready files for you to print your own stickers. Download and send to your local print house.

CHECK THE EVENTS CALENDAR
(and add your activities)

Events Calendar

IDEAS/RESOURCES
FOR DIFFERENT GROUPS

Looking for general event ideas?

Ideas for early learning centres and schools

Ideas for staff & professional development

Ideas for local governments and libraries

Ideas for churches & faith-based organisations

Ideas for Neighbourhood Houses and Centres

Ideas for small businesses

Ideas for Sports & Recreation Groups

RESOURCES TO SUPPORT EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

NAPCAN has plenty of free resources to support your activities including: brochures for parents and carers, tips for how to play your part, videos and posters.

Posters & Tip Sheets

Brochures for Parents & Carers

Tips for Playing Your Part

You can get involved with National Child Protection Week by helping us spread the word

PUBLISH AN ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER

Short newsletter articles for use by sector organisations and people working with children.

MEDIA INFORMATION AND PRESS RELEASES

Media Kit

If you have an activity or project that helps to support children, National Child Protection Week is a great opportunity to promote your work. Use our draft media content to get you started. Or contact NAPCAN for quotes, comments or interviews.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORDS BEHIND THIS YEAR’S THEME

Learn more

Find out how the Core Story for Early Childhood Development and Learning research can help you frame your communication so we engage families and communities.

Child abuse and neglect is a very challenging topic. If you need more information about how to get support for yourself or others, you can find a list of services on NAPCAN’s Support Page.