‘Keeping Ourselves Safe’ Programmes in Schools

Concerning (political) ideology has seeped into far too many places in education. This is a compelling conversation with a mum who looked into the NZ Police ‘safety’ course. Some teaching resources have been updated and we recommend diving in and looking.

, and Reproduced with permission

21 October 2024 . 12:30 PM

2 min read

Let Kids Be Kids and Penny Marie

Emma is a wife, mum of four kids (aged between six and 19), ex primary school teacher and now runs Early Childhood Centres in Auckland, NZ.

We take a look at the NZ Police Keeping Ourselves Safe programme currently being run in many NZ schools. Over the last four years (2019–2023), 977 schools have engaged with police with a total of 24,674 sessions delivered. Source OIA response, Sept 2023.

So, who’s taken a look at this programme?

With more parents having alarm bells on what’s happening in classrooms, some are compelled to check now, particularly when it’s a programme being run in conjunction with an external agency. Concerning (political) ideology has seeped into far too many places in education.

This is a compelling conversation with a mum who did look, even though she used to teach this programme in primary schools years ago. Some teaching resources have been updated, and we recommend diving in and looking.

On questioning the teachers and principal, these parents learned that the teachers were about to teach a programme that they had not analysed themselves.

Red flags

Emma’s red flags of what was going to be taught to her six-year-old, in ‘Keeping Ourselves Safe’:

Never assume ‘gender’ of anyone including other children
Removal of words ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ and replaced with ‘children’
Removal of words ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ and replaced with ‘parents and caregivers’
A lot about sexual touching
Reducing parents role in being important trusted adults, in these topics

We discuss the appropriateness of teaching young children:

Sexual topics
Consent
‘Homophobia’ and discrimination.

We have the right and responsibility to question what is being served up for our children by the state

We challenge the approach used, to teach all children these topics as a solution to child abuse. But is this the best approach? Should we give our children the burden, or should we deal with abuse on a case-by-case basis. There appears to be a narrative in education that the worst things may be happening to all children.