PARK Ridge State School has received a glowing endorsement from child protection advocate Bruce Morcombe, who says it is a model of best practice in promoting child safety.
Bruce and Denise Morcombe visited the school for a second time on Wednesday afternoon, returning to reinforce the safety message they first promoted to its students in 2013.
The couple led a one hour assembly for students in years 2 to 6, sharing with the school the story of their son Daniel's disappearance and murder in 2003.
The presentation focused on the Daniel Morcombe Foundation's three Rs - recognise, react and report - and encouraged students to approach adults in their safety network whenever they felt threatened.
Mr Morcombe said it was encouraging to see the school community, including parents, so engaged with the presentation.
"The kids already know recognise, react, report and about the safety network but Denise and I deliver something different relaying that back to Daniel's very real story," Mr Morcombe said.
"Park Ridge is a model school and we are going to take a lot of the lessons, the plans, the initiatives here and spread that word nationally.
"It's about saying to kids, 'here's a good opportunity to have some fun but also learn about safety'."
Mr Morcombe said he and Denise, who have now visited more than 450 schools with the Foundation, regularly received positive feedback from parents who had noticed the safety message hitting home.
"I was at Bunnings for lunch not long ago and a dad came up to me and said 'love your work'," he said.
"He said his child came home and had a chat about personal safety and setting up a family password, that is terrific feedback."
Park Ridge State School head of curriculum Sherron Butterworth said the school had a strong focus on child safety and worked within the Daniel Morcombe child safety curriculum.
"We've always focused on protective behaviours at Park Ridge but since Bruce and Denise have brought out Day for Daniel, its given us so many opportunities to be able to deal with issues with the children and create the strategies they need," she said.
Browns Plains police officer and Park Ridge State School adopt-a-cop Michael McEwan agreed.
"We want (kids) to be able to source us as a point of contact if they need help and that's why its so good Bruce and Denise have tried to involve the QPS in these activities," he said.
"It makes our job a whole lot easier."
