Protection for Children at Childcare Centres from Unauthorised Access by Strangers

Mr Don Wee asked the Minister for Social and Family Development what enforcement measures are in place to ensure that children in infant and childcare centres are protected from unauthorised access by strangers or non-teaching personnel.

To prevent any unauthorised personnel from entering preschools, all preschools are required to keep their premises secured. Every preschool must have procedures in place to check and record the entry and exit of all persons. Most preschools use electronic locks at the entrance and visitors are only allowed entry after checks.

Before any staff can be deployed in a preschool, including non-teaching personnel, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) will check if they have any previous criminal offences involving children, or have been earlier barred from working in the preschool sector. Personnel assessed to pose a risk to children's safety are not allowed to be deployed in a preschool. Preschools are also expected to have their own procedures for recruiting suitable staff to work with or around children, which includes interviews and reference checks.

Non-teaching staff may be deployed to assist in the care and supervision of children during arrival, dismissal and naptime. However, preschools must ensure there are measures in place to ensure the safety of children. These could include briefing non-teaching staff on appropriate child management methods and safety protocols as well as having a teaching staff present, where practicable.

These measures are all part of our system of multi-layered safeguards, where ECDA, operators, centres and educators do our part to ensure children's safety in preschools.