Tuesday 3 September, 2024
Students in thousands of classrooms nationwide are tuning in live for Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson, which covers the essential topic of enthusiastic consent.
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s eighth annual ABCSL video lessons are being released today, during National Child Protection Week, to deliver important education to students about how to stay safe.
Bruce and Denise Morcombe said it was a privilege to deliver Australia’s largest and most influential child safety lesson, which reaches an estimated 500,000 students.
ABCSL 2024 is being launched with a special ceremony here in Brisbane at the Manly State School in Brisbane while the two lessons are livestreamed to classrooms across Australia.
“This is Daniel’s legacy making a real difference,” Denise said.
“After 20 years the Daniel Morcombe Foundation is still at the forefront in the fight against child abuse.
“Australia no longer has a head in the sand approach to child safety. Daniel would be very proud.”
The plug-in-and-play lesson is designed to take the fear and difficulty out of teaching personal safety.
“Our intention for Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson is to be fearless, bold and daring,” Bruce said. “ABCSL is a profound game changer to keep kids safe.”
The video lessons will teach students the difference between consent and enthusiastic consent, the signs of grooming or ‘suss behaviours,’ body boundaries, respectful relationships and how to report to safety helpers.
Teacher guides, lesson materials and resources for parents and carers are released alongside ABCSL.
The lessons were created with input from stakeholders including the Australian Federal Police’s ACCCE, child safety academics and prep and primary school-aged children.
The two lessons include an animated version for students aged 4 to 7, going live at 9am, and a talk-show style lesson for students aged 8-12 at 10am.
ENDS
For media enquiries, please email tegan@danielmorcombe.com.au.