Supporting Child Safety at Sanctuary: Our Participation in a National CCTV Assessment

We’re participating in a national assessment to help shape how CCTV in childcare can support child safety—while continuing to protect privacy, uphold trust and keep children’s day-to-day experience unchanged.

At Sanctuary Early Learning Adventure, we believe safety is something families should feel, not question.

It’s built through relationships, consistency and the small, thoughtful decisions we make every day. And it’s why we’re proud to share that five of our centres—Ashmore, Buderim, Southport (Health and Knowledge Precinct), Maudsland and Redlynch - have been selected to take part in the Nationwide Assessment of CCTV in Early Childhood Education and Care settings.

This is a Commonwealth initiative designed to strengthen child safety across Australia’s early learning sector.

Why is CCTV in childcare being assessed nationally?

Across Australia, there is a growing focus on creating even stronger, more consistent child-safe environments in early learning.

Sanctuary Early Learning Adventure has been selected as one of only 300 services, from across more than 17,000 approved education and care services operating in Australia, to explore an important question:

How can CCTV in childcare support child safety—while working alongside the care, supervision and relationships children rely on every day?

The Assessment is being delivered across Australia during 2026, with participating services contributing insights over a defined period. As part of this process, services are included in different scenarios to understand how CCTV operates across a range of real-world early learning environments.

The goal is to build a clear, evidence-based foundation that will guide future national approaches—supporting consistency, safety and best practice across the sector.

What this means for your child’s experience

For families, the most important thing to know is this:

Nothing about your child’s daily experience at Sanctuary is changing.

Our environments, routines and approach to care remain exactly the same. Our participation focuses on sharing how our existing systems and practices work—not changing them.

• Our CCTV systems continue to operate as they currently do
• Access remains restricted to authorised Sanctuary personnel only
• Systems are securely managed within each individual centre
• There is no external access to live CCTV systems.

The Assessment is centred on understanding practices; not observing or accessing day-to-day centre activity. All information shared contributes to broader insights and is handled in a way that does not identify individual children, families or educators. 

How CCTV fits into our approach to safety

CCTV in childcare is often discussed as a solution. We see it as one part of a much bigger picture.

At Sanctuary, safety is layered and intentional.

It comes from:

• Educators who are present, engaged and highly trained
• Environments designed to support visibility and supervision
• Strong governance, policies and accountability
• Relationships with families built on trust and communication.

Where CCTV is used, it supports these layers—it does not replace them. Because no technology can substitute the awareness, care and responsiveness of a great educator.

What this Assessment will help shape

One of the most valuable outcomes of this national work is what comes next. Insights from participating services will contribute to future guidance on:

• how CCTV can be used safely and appropriately in childcare
• best practice for privacy and data protection
• appropriate camera placement and system management
• how technology can support, not replace, quality care.
  
  

This will help create more consistent, well-informed approaches across early learning settings nationally—giving families greater confidence in how safety is supported across the sector.

Our responsibility to do this well

Participating in this Assessment is about contributing thoughtfully and responsibly.

It means being open about how systems are used, how privacy is protected, and how decisions are made within real early learning environments.

It also means listening.

Later in the Assessment, families may be invited to share their perspectives through a short, voluntary survey—helping ensure that future guidance reflects what matters most to families as well as providers.

A shared commitment to trust

We know that trust is built in everyday moments—at drop-off, in conversations, and through the relationships we build with your child. That doesn’t change because of an Assessment. If anything, this is an opportunity to strengthen that trust further by being transparent, thoughtful and actively contributing to safer environments for children across Australia.

Looking for more information about cctv in childcare?

We understand that some families may wish to explore this topic further.

The Nationwide Assessment is being delivered independently on behalf of the Australian Government, with a focus on strengthening child safety across the early learning sector.

Importantly, the Assessment focuses on understanding practices across services and does not involve external access to centre systems or day-to-day operations.

You can learn more about the national initiative here:
https://www.education.gov.au/early-childhood/about/quality-and-safety/national-cctv-assessment



You’re also always welcome to speak with your Centre Director if you’d like to understand how this applies within your child’s environment.

Explore more about safety at sanctuary

If you’d like to learn more about how we approach safety, supervision and wellbeing across our centres, we invite you to explore our Safety at Sanctuary page or speak with your Centre Director. We’re always here for those conversations.