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September 2025 SMR News
Welcome to the September Newsletter!
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- Child Protection Week 2025
- New and new-ish Safe Ministry Reps - Zoom Workshops
- Safe Ministry parish consultations
- Safe Ministry Training requirements
- Face to face training 2025
- Face to face training (Chinese)
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Child Protection Week 2025
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Today I attended (online) the official launch of Child Protection Week 2025.
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We heard from a number of speakers focusing our attention on this year's theme Shifting Conversation to Action.
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Some of the take home messages were:
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- protecting children is a collective responsibility
- children have a right to be safe, supported and given opportunities to thrive
- children's voices have come together to affirm the need for adults to take action on their behalf
- recent failings in the early childhood sector have amplified the need for more reforms and change across all sectors
- hearing from young people about what makes them feel safe is important
- having conversations increases the likelihood of action
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Why not start a conversation in your church this week.
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Embrace the domino effect: by shifting from conversation to action, we can ensure that every child not only feels heard but also experiences real safety, care, and protection.
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New and new-ish Safe Ministry Reps - Zoom Workshops
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The next SMR 101 Zoom workshops will happen in September 2025.
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If you are new (or new-ish) to the role of SMR, then invest an hour in this workshop and reap the benefits!
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No booking or rego required - just boot up your device at the right time and click the appropriate link below. Have your questions and a notebook ready!
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Two days/times - identical content.
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- Monday September 22nd @ 10:30am - 11:30am
- Wednesday September 24th @ 07:30pm - 08:30pm
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Safe Ministry Consultations
Would you like to improve safe ministry practices in your church in 2025?
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Then participate in a Safe Ministry Parish Consultation.
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A Safe Ministry Parish consultation provides an opportunity to obtain feedback about your church’s safe ministry practices and receive recommendations for making improvements as part of your church’s continuous improvement process.
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Since 2022 under the NSW Child Safe Scheme churches are required to implement the 10 Child Safe Standards.
A Parish consultation can assist your church to:
- Highlight where your church is already meeting the Standards
- Bring to light gaps in implementation and develop a plan for continuous improvement
Additionally the consultation will review compliance with the Safe Ministry to Children Ordinance 2020.
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What’s involved?
+ Completing an online Child Safe Standards Self-Assessment tool
+ Meeting with the Parish Consultant and relevant staff in your church
+ Receive a Report which includes recommendations for improving Safe Ministry practices.
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Safe Ministry Training Requirements
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A few training reminders:
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# When a Junior Leader turns 18 years, they MUST complete the Essentials course (not Refresher), even if they have previously completed the Junior Leader course. More information is available here.
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Face to face Safe Ministry training (English) - 2025 Dates
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Course enrolments open - 4 weeks prior to the event
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Course enrolments close - 48hrs prior to the event
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Step by step instructions to enrol in Face-to-Face Training are available here.
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Please note: You are not able to enrol or pay at the event.
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Listed below are the dates and venues for face-to-face training events to be held in 2025.
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Enrolments will open mid October 2025
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Saturday 15 November 2025
Safe Ministry Essentials | 9.00am – 3.00pm
Jannali Anglican Church
Rouse Hill Anglican Church
St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Bomaderry
Safe Ministry Refresher | 9.00am – 12.30pm
St Alban’s Anglican Church, Lindfield
Shellharbour City Anglican Church
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Please encourage those in your church who would benefit from face to face training to enrol, and be prepared to assist them if necessary with the technology.
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- Applicants for face to face training need to have an account on the Safe Ministry Training website, log in and enrol in the course.
- Once they complete the course, they will be emailed their certificate a day or so later, and a copy of their certificate details sent to you, their SMR.
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Face to face Safe Ministry training (Chinese)
Saturday 15 November 2025
Safe Ministry Essentials – Chinese | 9.00am – 3.00pm
Lidcombe Anglican Church (Mandarin & Cantonese)
Click here for more information
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SMR Facebook Group
A reminder that we have a private Facebook group just for SMR's
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- A safe and private place for SMR's to ask questions, support each other, share ideas or solutions to problems, etc
- The address is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/173114257798286
- Involvement in this group is entirely optional - but it is proving to be a useful extra channel for SMR's to chat amongst themselves and pose questions.
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Keeping up to date with news
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An archive of all SMR Newsletters (since we moved to our new system) is available here.
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That's it for this edition! Back soon with more info about what is happening in the Safe Ministry scene.
If you are no longer the SMR for your church, please unsubscribe using the link below and drop me an email to let me know.
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