Wesley Mission Annual Report 2020 - Flipbook - Page 21
Building resilient children
We’ve helped more parents balance their work and parenting duties by opening four new Wesley Out of School
Hours Care (Wesley OOSH) centres in Marsden Park, Merrylands, North Rocks and Wyong in January 2020.
This increased our support of local children and
families in their school communities to a total of
nine services, or 1,018 approved places each day,
including existing locations at Quakers Hill, Seven
Hills West, Riverstone, North Kellyville and Epping
West.
What’s on the menu?
Research shows that quality education and care
early in life leads to better health, education and
employment outcomes later in life, and is critical
for establishing self-esteem, resilience, healthy
growth and capacity to learn. Wesley OOSH takes
a child-led, play-based learning approach and
provides children with the opportunity to play in
multiple ways to develop creativity, dexterity, and
to extend their physical, cognitive and emotional
strength.
Culturally sensitive and inclusive
learning
Wesley OOSH provides before and after school
care and vacation care during school holidays.
Both Seven Hills West and Riverstone have been
assessed as Exceeding National Quality Standards
(NQS) and Quakers Hill received the rating of
Meeting NQS. Our other centres are awaiting
assessment or haven’t been assessed since
they’ve been under our management.
We also work in partnership with the schools
where Wesley OOSH operates. Each school’s
principal and teachers can directly refer children
and their families to Wesley Mission’s other
community services. This includes family supports,
child mentoring, emergency relief and disability
support among others.
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Children and families regularly
provide feedback and input into
our menus, and where safe and
appropriate, children are involved
in preparing meals.
Our child-centred approach ensures
children with diverse cultural and
language backgrounds are engaged
and supported. Through programming,
children are encouraged to increase
their understanding of culture and
perspectives of others.
In 19/20, Wesley OOSH
Supported
Employed
1,851 109
school children in
out of school hours care
trained educators
Operated
nine
OOSH services
with four new locations
Children and young people
give feedback about their safety
It’s been two years since the final report was handed down from the
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The recommendations from this report highlighted
the need to listen to the voices of children and
young people; to allow them to participate in
decisions affecting them; and to involve them in the
design, implementation and evaluation of initiatives
that keep them safe.
At Wesley Mission we sought to do that by inviting
164 children and young people in our programs,
between the ages of 10 and 17, to provide
feedback on their safety, when engaging with
Wesley Mission. This research conducted by the
Institute of Child Protection Studies at the
Australian Catholic University found that most of
the young people surveyed in our programs felt
safe either ‘all of the time’ (76.2 per cent) or ‘most
of the time’ (20.1 per cent).
We learned that in order to feel safe, young people
wanted a trusted adult they could approach if they
felt uncomfortable. Through their feedback, these
young people told us that we need to identify better
ways for children to report safety concerns, and to
look for more accessible and child-friendly ways for
them to raise issues.
Wesley Mission administered the Australian Safe
Kids and Young People (ASK-YP) survey as a tool to
self-audit, benchmark and improve child safety, the
subsequent report published in October 2019
sought to:
• e
stablish benchmarks for child safety and
engagement in Wesley Mission
• improve child safety across Wesley Mission’s
programs and services
• give children and young people a voice.
Giving children
le
and young peop
e
ic
a vo
ldren
A survey of how chi
perceive
le
op
pe
ng
you
and
sion
safety in Wesley Mis
programs
This will be the first in an ongoing exercise to
monitor our engagement and find ways to give
children and young people more of a voice in how
they’re supported. With more than 120 years’
experience caring for children and young people, it’s
our responsibility to do all we can to safeguard their
bright futures.
What children want in order to feel safe:
• children and young people want a trusted adult who they
can approach if they ever feel uncomfortable
• some of the barriers that prevent children from feeling
confident enough to discuss their safety with workers at
Wesley Mission include being worried things will get worse
and not feeling confident that adults will fix the situation
• children and young people were more likely to discuss their
unsafe situations with a friend or their mother.
October 2019
76.2%
feel safe in our programs
all of the time
20.1%
feel safe in our programs
most of the time
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