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WA Child Safety Awards 2015 Winners Announced

Announcement posted by Constable Care Child Safety Foundation 05 Aug 2015

Constable Care Child Safety Foundation has announced the winners of the fourth Child Safety Awards 2015, at a spectacular gala evening on Saturday 1 August, hosted at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

In a night of excitement and honour, hundreds of local dignitaries and guests paid tribute to the remarkable achievements of those dedicating their time to protect children and young people from harm in Western Australia.

Seven awards were presented throughout the night highlighting the achievements of individuals, communities, corporate organisations, emergency service professionals, government agencies and education programs in both metropolitan and regional Western Australia.

From the seven award winners, the recipient of the Constable Care Child Safety Award of the Year 2015 was selected.

In a fitting finale to the black-tie event, Her Excellency, Kerry Sanderson, AO, Governor of Western Australia announced Kristee Jolly, a young woman from Toodyay, the winner of the prestigious Constable Care Child Safety Award of the Year for 2015.

Constable Care Child Safety Foundation CEO David Gribble said “Congratulations to this year’s winners, especially Kristee. The judges found every finalist extremely worthy, which made the decision process that much more difficult when reviewing so many great programs and achievements.”

“They have each delivered inspiring campaigns and programs, and we thank them for their efforts in helping create safer communities for WA children,” explained David.

The task of choosing the winners was conducted by independent judging panels, consisting of leading child welfare professionals, corporate and educational stakeholders and others with a keen interest in children’s wellbeing.

The judges felt Kristee had shown remarkable drive and were very impressed with her strategy to involve the broader community and help make Toodyay a lively, engaging and safe place for young people to live. Her obvious energy, great ideas and resourcefulness have been invaluable to the children in her region.

The awards, hosted by Rick Arden and Monika Kos, saw some of Perth’s highest dignitaries out in support of this most important sector.  They included Her Excellency, Kerry Sanderson AO, Governor of Western Australia, The Honourable Wayne Martin, AC QC, The Honourable Liza Harvey MLA, The Honourable Peter Collier MLC, The Honourable Michelle Hopkins Roberts MLA and The Honourable Dave Grills MLC.

The winners of the Constable Care Child Safety Awards 2015 are:

Constable Care Child Safety Award of the Year 2015

·         Kristee Jolly, Shire of Toodyay

Since 2010 Kristee Jolly has worked relentlessly to make Toodyay a lively, engaging place for young people to live. She developed the Toodyay Youth Advisory Council, and 'am I a cyber-bully?' program in conjunction with the local police and high school. More recently Kristee developed the Toodyay Inclusion Holiday program that brings together children from all backgrounds to connect and participate in local sporting and recreational activities.  What started as a program with 150 participants now sees over 800 children connect and learn from one another in a safe environment.

 

WA Child Safety Volunteer Award

·         Elizabeth Grixti, Albany

Liz Grixti is a mother of three and foster carer of five who has a passion for protective behaviours. After seeing the behavioural challenges her foster children were experiencing, she became an advocate for teaching protective behaviours to children in her local school. Her tireless research and self-funded learning is shared daily with as many youngsters, parents, carers and even professionals as she can. Liz has never backed down from ensuring all children have access to the support and help they need in order to create safety around them.

 

WA Child Safety Employee Award

·         Kristee Jolly, Shire of Toodyay (See notes above)

 

WA Child Safety Police & Emergency Services Award

·         Senior Constable Tam McKeown, WA Police, Mandurah

Founder of the award-winning 'Being Seen, Being Safe' school road safety project, Tam has always had a passion for enhancing the safety of Western Australian children. After identifying that young people are often reluctant to take advice from adults,  Tam devised the Students Advising Youth project (SAY) in 2013; a scheme whereby our youth become the educators of other young people on topical crime and community safety issues through the use of film and social media. The scheme has proved so effective it has been expanded to cover all high schools in WA.

 

WA Child Safety Community Award

·         Strong Tomorrow, Save the Children Australia

Strong Tomorrow provides specialist youth mentoring in collaboration with the Youth Crime Intervention offices to support between four to six at-risk young offenders aged 10 to 14 years old in the WA Police South East Metropolitan district. There are four key activities within the program that include; mentoring, advocacy, practical support and working in collaboration with other services. The goal was to reduce youth crime by 40 per cent but the initiative far exceeded expectations; criminal activity by the participants reduced between 85 to 100 per cent, and school attendance increased between 60-100 per cent.  The children built a strong, supportive bond with their mentor, and consequently reported they felt more capable of making good decisions and have become more valued members of their community.

 

WA Child Safety Corporate Partnership Award

·         RAC in partnership with WA Police, Department of Fire and Emergency Services, Royal Perth Hospital, St John Ambulance, RAC bstreetsmart, WA

RAC bstreetsmart is a partnership between RAC, the WA Police, St John Ambulance, Royal Perth Hospital, and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. It is an educational event created to reduce the fatality and injury rates of young people by promoting safer driving behaviours. Since its inception in 2012 over 20,000 WA students in years 10-12 have attended RAC bstreetsmart. The event includes a road crash re-enactment, attended by all emergency services, as would occur in a real road incident. A series of speakers, who have been personally impacted by the consequences of road trauma, also share their story with the audience. The results are impressive - feedback shows the event encourages young people to make smarter choices as young drivers and passengers. 

 

WA Child Safety Government Award

·         Department for Child Protection and Family Support and WA Police, Youth at Risk Strategy (YARS), Northbridge, Perth CBD

Targeting vulnerable young people in high risk precincts, such as night-time Northbridge and Perth inner city, the Youth At Risk Strategy (YARS) has been created to prevent or minimise harm caused through compromising behaviours and situations, particularly those related to alcohol and drugs. Lead by Mission Australia's Youthbeat program, the YARS team patrol high risk areas Thursday to Saturday, 9pm to 5am, identifying and helping children under 16 who are vulnerable or at risk of homelessness and connect them to intervention services. As a result many young people who were at risk of harm were kept safe at night and offered ongoing support from the case management team. The service has now been extended to cover the whole of metropolitan Perth.

·         Highly Commended - Public Transport Authority, Right Track Program, WA

The Public Transport Authority's (PTA's) Right Track program is a targeted community education program focusing on young people up to 22 years of age. It aims to encourage our youth to be responsible for their own safety and to make positive choices around public transport. The program raises awareness of the dangers and risks associated with trespass and antisocial behaviours on public transport, including fighting, graffiti vandalism, and conflict with staff through comprehensive educational, advertising and community engagement campaigns. Since its inception in 2006, more than 100,000 students and young people across the metropolitan area have participated in the Right Track program.

 

WA Child Safety Education Award

·         First Aid Club, St John Ambulance, WA

St John Ambulance is committed to promoting the importance of first aid in the community. To help achieve this they have created the First Aid Club, a ten week program teaching basic first aid skills to WA primary school students so they can confidently deal with an emergency medical situation.  The interactive program has been designed to be delivered by a teacher or a member of the school community and consists of the seven steps that St John follow when treating a patient.  This includes lifesaving skills, how to clear someone’s airway in the event of them choking as well as essentials such as the treatment of burns and scalds and how to call emergency services.

All winners of the Constable Care Child Safety Awards received a Child Safety service medal and honour certificate. Cash prizes of $1000 were provided to each of the Individual Award winners (Employee, Volunteer and Police & Emergency Services Awards). An additional cash prize of $2000 was awarded to Kristee Jolly, as the recipient of the Constable Care Child Safety Award of the Year 2015.

For more information please visit www.childsafetyawards.org.au

The official event photo gallery will be available to view and download from the Scene Team’s website, using the link and log in below:

http://www.thesceneteam.com.au/photocart/index.php?category=36

Gallery: Constable Care – 2015 Child Safety Awards

Password: Safety (This is case sensitive so please use a capital S when entering the password)

To see the photographs in a larger format click on the image, then hit ‘next’ to view more images. To download a high resolution digital file to your desktop: click on the down arrow above/below the photograph. The image will download to your desktop. These images are suitable for printing.


Notes to editors

·      Constable Care Child Safety Foundation is a registered harm prevention charity that delivers award winning safety education programs free of charge to school students throughout Western Australia.

·       The Foundation continues to support the growing needs of children, youth and families by developing ongoing programs and products relevant to the challenges faced by our youth to ensure a safer, brighter future for those living in Western Australia.

·         Constable Care Child Safety Foundation celebrated 25 years of service in 2014. It was established in 1989 by Sergeant Ross Pengilly and launched by WA Police. 

·         Constable Care’s educational theatre shows reach over 150,000 children in Western Australia each year.

·         Free services provided include; Constable Care Pre-school to Year 6 educational puppet and actor shows, Theatrical Response Group interactive performances and intensive workshops for Years 7 to 12, Comfort Packs for children in distress, Lost Child Points – a meeting point service and a safe refuge for children, should they become separated from their parents or guardians at major events in WA.