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September 2026 SMR News
Welcome to the September Newsletter! Spring is here!
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- SMR Teams 101 Workshops
- Safe Ministry parish consultations
- Office closure for holiday period
- Safe Ministry Training Requirements
- Online assistants
- Online Safe Ministry training webinars
- Face to face training 2026
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New and new-ish Safe Ministry Reps - Teams Workshops
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The next SMR 101 Teams workshops will happen in November 2026.
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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 November 16th @ 07:30pm - 08:30pm
- Wednesday November 18th @ 10:00am - 11:00am
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Safe Ministry Consultations
Would you like to improve safe ministry practices in your church in 2026?
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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;
+ Receiving a Report which includes recommendations for improving Safe Ministry practices.
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Office closure for holiday period.
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Sydney Anglican Services, including the Safe Ministry Office will be closed from Thursday 24 December and reopen Monday 11 January.
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Limited assistance will be available during that time.
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If you think a child or young person is at risk of harm from abuse or neglect, contact the Child Protection Helpline on 132 111 (TTY 1800 212 936), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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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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Online Assistants
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Please consider appointing a tech savvy assistant to guide any person who needs help when doing the online training. This is an important ministry to ensure that no-one is excluded from safe ministry training.
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Online Safe Ministry Training Webinars
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The online courses are a convenient way of completing safe ministry training at any time of the year.
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However, December to April is a very busy period which means that the webinar component of the course fills up very quickly at this time!
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Please encourage those at your Church, whose safe ministry training expires in this busy period, to consider doing it earlier, to ensure that they can do the webinar at a time which suits them and before their training expires.
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Face to face training (English) - 2026 Dates
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Registrations open 4-5 weeks prior to the event
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Course enrolments close 48hrs prior to the event
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Listed below are the dates and venues for face-to-face training events to be held in 2026.
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Saturday 14 November 2026
Safe Ministry Essentials | 9.00am – 3.00pm
All Saints Anglican Church, Austinmer
St Paul’s Anglican Church, Chatswood
Grace West Anglican – Glenmore Park
St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Mittagong
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Safe Ministry Refresher | 9.00am – 12.30pm
Gerringong Anglican Church, Gerringong
Newport Anglican Church, Newport
Crosslight Anglican Church, Mortdale
St Luke’s Anglican Church, Miranda
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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 14 November 2026
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Safe Ministry Essentials – Chinese | 9.00am – 3.00pm
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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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Parish Consultant - Safe Ministry Team
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