Audience

This policy applies to children, families, educators, staff, visitors, Approved Provider, Nominated Supervisor, and Management of the School.

Scope

This policy outlines the responsibilities regarding children's personal belongings at the School, including the types of belongings children may bring and the associated responsibilities.

National Quality Standard (NQS)

Purpose

To ensure families and educators are aware of their responsibilities regarding children’s belongings, including keeping them safe.

Comfort Toys and Security Items

Many children have a ‘security’ item that soothes them and helps them to cope throughout a busy day. Security items may include items such as a special blanket, dummy, or soft toy.

We recommend that if children have a comfort toy or security item, it is labelled (if possible) and brought to the school each day. When not required or in use, we will ensure that it has a designated storage space that is known to the child.

Families are encouraged to regularly discuss the use of comfort toys/security items with educators as their child’s needs change.

Implementation

It can be distressing for children to misplace their toys from home whilst attending the School. At times, toys brought from home can also cause conflict between children at the school. Children often want to share or show other children or educators their special items from home; however, these ‘treasures’ may be inadvertently broken or lost. To save the upset and heartache, parents are requested to encourage children to leave their toys at home unless they are essential to a child’s emotional wellbeing and/or sense of belonging (security items). We have numerous stimulating and challenging toys and resources catering to children’s interests that are available to play with each day.

Nominated Supervisors, Responsible Persons, Educators, and Staff will:

• Allow children to bring personal belongings for news, including special items from gifts, holiday souvenirs, or items relating to a current interest.
• Facilitate opportunities for children to participate in news as a way to encourage children to talk about their special toy or personal belonging during group time. This practice encourages:
• Children’s social development.
• Children to verbalise thoughts, fears, and feelings.
• Broadens the cultural and social understandings of all children involved in group time activities.
• The development of language skills.
• Provides an opportunity for development of special interests for the group.
• Store children’s items in a safe place throughout the day, retrieving them for news time, and then returning them to safety.
• Remind parents that if they choose to leave belongings in the School during the day, it is completely at their own risk.
• Re-iterate our policy that if personal belongings are particularly valuable, fragile, or hold irreplaceable emotional value, it is recommended that the child bring in the item, show it to friends and educators, and then have the parent take it with them. This allows for the child to share the excitement and experience without the risk of loss or damage.
• Provide appropriate storage for lost property that will be available to children and families at all times.
• Manage any grievances or concerns related to lost, damaged, or stolen property of the children in accordance with the Dealing with Complaints Policy and Procedure.
• Take as much care as possible in ensuring that personal belongings are returned to the correct family. To assist us with this, we ask families to ensure that any item that can be labelled, either has the child’s name on it, or the child’s initials (for example, on the tag of soft toys where space is limited). If an item cannot be labelled, it is the parent’s responsibility to advise an educator that their child has this item in their possession.
• Encourage children who bring special belongings into care to place them in their labelled school bags to reduce the prospect of them becoming lost or broken.
• Enforce a non-violent toy policy in which we seek family assistance in preventing their children from bringing in violent toys from home. Any such toys will be removed from the child immediately and placed in the reception area for parental collection at the end of the day.
• Allow children to wear dress-up clothes to the school; however, we ask that accessories such as guns, knives, swords, or other weaponry are left at home. Such items can encourage violent play and may present a danger to the child and others within our child care environment.
• Take as much care as possible in ensuring that children’s clothing and linen items are returned to their correct family. The labelling of all items can help staff achieve this. However, the School cannot take responsibility for any damaged, lost, or stolen items.
• Actively encourage children to care for their belongings by:
• Reminding children appropriately when belongings need to be placed in storage.
• Providing suitable storage to keep belongings safe.
• Negotiating a secure and safe position with families for any item or personal belonging that is either special, expensive, or at risk of being damaged but is nevertheless being left at the school.
• Inform families through relevant school newsletters, or post on Earlyworks and publications such as the Family Handbook of appropriate personal belongings required at the School each day.

Families will:

• Be responsible for providing their child with appropriate belongings and property required for active participation in all school activities and experiences. This property may include (but is not limited to):
• Enclosed footwear.
• Weather-appropriate clothing.
• Sun-safe clothing.
• Wide-brim hat.
• Suitable school bag.
• Ensure all personal property and belongings are clearly named or labelled or have been shown to an educator upon arrival if labelling is not possible.

Source

• Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority. (2014).
• Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics. (2016).
• Education and Care Services National Regulations. (2011).
• Guide to the Education and Care Services National Law and the Education and Care Services National Regulations. (2017).
• Guide to the National Quality Framework. (2017). (amended 2020).
• Privacy Act 1988.
• Revised National Quality Standard. (2018).