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The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (KS:CPC) is a respectful relationships and child safety curriculum for children and young people from age 3 to year 12. It teaches children to:
- recognise abuse and tell a trusted adult about it
- understand what is appropriate and inappropriate touching
- understand ways of keeping themselves safe.
The KS:CPC is mandated in all public preschools and schools and is taught every year by teachers who have completed a full day KS:CPC training course. It is a world-class, evidence-based child safety program that is used by a range of other Australian and international schools.
Respectful relationships and consent education
Respectful relationships and consent education are addressed through the Australian Curriculum and the KS:CPC.
The consent and sexual consent page has information to help parents, families and carers talk with their child about:
- consent
- sexual health
- respectful relationships.
Australian Curriculum
Respectful relationships and consent are primarily addressed through the Health and Physical Education learning area and within the ‘relationships and sexuality’ and ‘safety’ focus areas. Consent is also addressed within digital technology and in particular social media.
KS:CPC
Learning about respectful relationships is at the foundation of the KS:CPC for children and young people from early to secondary years. Concepts focussing on consent are embedded throughout the curriculum at an age and developmentally appropriate level.
Topics around consent and online safety were strengthened in a revised edition of the KS:CPC, released in August 2021.
Why we teach children about keeping safe
The department has a legal responsibility to protect children and young people from abuse in its own settings and in the wider community. All children and young people have a right to:
- be treated with respect and to be protected from harm
- be asked for their opinions about things that affect their lives and to be listened to
- feel and be safe in their interactions with adults and other children and young people
- understand as early as possible what is meant by 'feeling and being safe'.
Curriculum
Themes
The curriculum follows 2 main themes:
- we all have the right to be safe
- we can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we trust.
Focus areas
The 2 themes are explored through 4 focus areas:
- the right to be safe
- relationships
- recognising and reporting abuse
- protective strategies.
The focus areas are targeted to the age of the learners.
Concept summaries
These summaries tell you more about what is taught in each age group:
- Early years: ages 3 to 5 summary (PDF 130KB)
- Early years: years R to 2 summary (PDF 130KB)
- Primary years: years 3 to 5 summary (PDF 131KB)
- Middle years: years 6 to 9 summary (PDF 132KB)
- Senior years: years 10 to 12 summary (PDF 130KB)
More information
Fact sheets
- Early years: ages 3 to 5 fact sheet (PDF 205KB)
- Early years: years R to 2 fact sheet (PDF 209KB)
- Primary years: years 3 to 5 fact sheet (PDF 205KB)
- Middle years: years 6 to 9 fact sheet (PDF 211KB)
- Senior years: years 10 to 12 fact sheet (PDF 205KB)
Information in multiple languages
- English (PDF 312KB)
- Amharic (PDF 389KB)
- Arabic (PDF 344KB)
- Burmese (PDF 364KB)
- Chinese Traditional (PDF 301KB)
- Chinese Simplified (PDF 394KB)
- Dari (PDF 444KB)
- Dinka (PDF 339KB)
- French (PDF 317KB)
- German (PDF 180KB)
- Hebrew (PDF 242KB)
- Hindi (PDF 314KB)
- Indonesian (PDF 142KB)
- Italian (PDF 247KB)
- Japanese (PDF 281KB)
- Khmer (PDF 325KB)
- Kirundi (PDF 196KB)
- Korean (PDF 339KB)
- Kurdish (PDF 362KB)
- Mongolian (PDF 209KB)
- Nepali (PDF 334KB)
- Persian (PDF 319KB)
- Portuguese (PDF 140KB)
- Punjabi (PDF 238KB)
- Russian (PDF 211KB)
- Somali (PDF 277KB)
- Spanish (PDF 277KB)
- Swahili (PDF 271KB)
- Tagalog (PDF 195KB)
- Thai (PDF 313KB)
- Turkish (PDF 304KB)
- Ukrainian (PDF 189KB)
- Urdu (PDF 362KB)
- Vietnamese (PDF 295KB)
Talk to your preschool or school
Parent or carer permission is not required under the South Australian Children and Young People (Safety) Act, 2017. But we do want you to contact your child’s preschool or school if you want more information about the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum activities.