Safeguarding

At the Y, safeguarding is not just what we do, but who we are. Our highest priority is keeping children and young people safe.

We're accredited by the Australian Childhood Foundation as a child-safe organisation. We've achieved this accreditation by ensuring that child-safe practices are embedded into everything we do.

Our commitments

To ensure a child-safe organisation, we commit to:

• creating an environment for children and young people to be safe and to feel safe;
• using best practice standards in the recruitment, screening and employment of YMCA people;
• providing safe physical environments that when possible, are designed with children, young people, their families and YMCA people;
• regularly auditing our facilities and immediate surrounding environments to assess their safety;
• monitoring our online environments to ensure their safety;
• promoting, supporting and building positive relationships between children and young people, and other users accessing our facilities; and
• ensuring user groups of our facilities comply with our Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy.

Our team

Safety is our number one priority at the Y. We're committed to providing a safe environment for all children and young people. We recruit, train and support our staff and volunteers to care for the children and young people in our programs and services. Our Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy applies to every staff member and volunteer at the Y.

This means all employees and volunteers must:

• maintain a valid Working With Children Check;
• complete a satisfactory police check; and
• complete the Australian Childhood Foundation’s Safeguarding Children and Young People training course.

We ensure our staff and volunteers take all reasonable steps to keep children and young people safe, and to promptly respond to any concern regarding the safety or development of children in our care.

Our educators are comprehensively trained in everything from our OH&S (Occupational Health and Safety) policies to our stringent safeguarding children practices.

Our facilities and food standards

Our facilities vary from camp to camp, accommodating anything from 15-250 campers. For example, Camp Manyung facilities include cottages and lodges by the seaside, with a conference centre and tennis courts, whilst Lady Northcote Discovery Camp facilities include dormitories in a more rural and rustic setting, with activities like a giant swing and archery. Find a camp that suits your needs.

At the Y Discovery Camps, we follow the government's Australian Dietary Guidelines and all our meals conform to Nutrition Australia's standards. All our camps deliver outstanding catering services by our fully qualified chefs, which include cooked meals, morning and afternoon tea and fresh fruit. Tea and coffee is available at all times. We happily cater for all dietary requirements upon request e.g. nuts, diary, gluten free etc.

Report a concern

YMCA Victoria responds to all concerns about the safety of children and young people within our programs.

We strongly encourage you to submit a report if you have a safeguarding concern about our programs. For example, you may have witnessed a situation that put a child or young person at risk.

In the first instance, we ask you to raise your concern with the relevant camp manager who will be able to provide immediate support.

If you would feel more comfortable contacting our local safeguarding team, then please complete the form below.

A representative of this team will liaise with the relevant management team and provide a response.