For young people
Your safety at ParkSyde
This page is for you, not for your grown-up. It says what you can expect from us, and what to do if something does not feel right.
Six things that are true about you
You have the right to be safe
Safe in your body and safe in your feelings. That is true here, at home, and everywhere else you go.
You have the right to be believed
If you tell a grown-up here that something happened, we will believe you. We will not ask you to prove it first.
You have the right to speak up
Even if you are not sure. Even if it is about a grown-up. Even if someone told you not to. You will never be in trouble for telling.
You have the right to say no
You can say no to a hug, to a photo, to a game, to going somewhere. Your no counts as much as anybody else's.
You have the right to learn your way
You can pick how you show what you know. Choosing the drawing instead of the writing says nothing about how clever you are.
You have the right to be you
Your family, your culture, your language, your body, what you believe. All of it is welcome here exactly as it is.
Your body belongs to you
The parts of you covered by your swimmers are private. Nobody should look at them or touch them, and nobody should ask you to look at or touch theirs. There are only two times a grown-up might need to help: keeping you clean, and keeping you healthy — like a doctor, with your own grown-up right there.
Anything else is not okay, and it is never your fault.
Your body has an alarm
Sometimes your body knows before your brain works it out. A jumpy tummy. A thumpy heart. Wobbly legs. A hot face. Just an uh-oh feeling.
That alarm is your body helping you. When it goes off, go and tell a grown-up you trust — even if you cannot explain why, even if you are not sure, even if it turns out to be nothing. Working out whether it is a big deal is a grown-up’s job, not yours.
Secrets and surprises are not the same
A surprise is fun. A birthday present is a surprise — everybody finds out in the end, and everybody is happy.
A secret you are told to keep forever — especially about bodies, or touching, or something that made your alarm go off — is not an okay secret. Those ones always get told. Even if you promised. Even if you already kept it for a long time.
How to tell someone
You do not need the right words. You can just say “something is bothering me” and let the grown-up help you find the rest.
- Tell a grown-up you trust. A parent, a carer, a grandparent, a coach, a teacher, an aunty or uncle, an elder. Pick anybody on your list.
- If the first grown-up does not help, tell another one. Keep going until somebody does. That is not being rude. That is being smart.
- You can tell us. Ask your grown-up to email us at admin@parksydeltd.com, or to ring 0467 937 659. You can be there when they do.
- You can ring Kids Helpline yourself, any time. 1800 55 1800. It is free, it does not show up on the phone bill, and it is open all day and all night. Small problems count — you do not have to wait until something is huge.
- If someone is in danger right now, ring 000. You are allowed to do that. Kids do it, and it is the right call.
One thing we have to be honest about
If you tell a ParkSyde grown-up that you are not safe, we cannot promise to keep it a secret. We would rather say that now than promise something we could not keep.
Here is what we will do instead: we will tell you before we tell anyone else, we will tell you exactly who we are telling and why, and we will ask what you want to happen and listen properly to your answer.
You will not get in trouble. Not even a little bit. Not ever.
Make your own safety hand
Trace your hand on a piece of paper. On each finger, write one grown-up you could tell if you ever felt unsafe or worried. Try to make at least one of them someone who does not live in your house.
Stick it somewhere you will see it. Check every now and then that those five are still the right five — people change, and your hand is allowed to change too.
If you think we got something wrong
You are allowed to tell us that too. Maybe a lesson upset you, or something felt unfair, or a grown-up here did something that did not sit right. We want to know — we would much rather hear it than not.
And you can always go to someone outside ParkSyde instead. You do not need our permission, and you do not have to tell us first. Kids Helpline is 1800 55 1800.
This page is for young people. There is a longer version for grown-ups on our child safety page.