Department of Education and Training, Deputy Chief Executive Schools, Paul van Holsteyn says there were two incidents of a grey or silver car approaching students from a northern suburbs school last week, sparking a warning about stranger danger, with letters sent to parents

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Territory, children and families are being warned after two incidents
of a vehicle approaching school students walking home and the
occupants three adult men, trying to entice them into a car.
Now joining me on the line is the Department of
Education and Training's Deputy Chief Executive of Schools, Paul Van Holstein.

(00:21):
Good morning to you, Paul.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good morning Katie.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Thanks so much for your time this morning. Paul. Firstly,
can you tell me what happened in each of these incidents?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, thanks Katie. So last week Thursday, after school, there
were two incidents where students were approached by people in
a gray or a silver car. Those young people realized
the situation and made their way home as quickly as
possible and reported that to the and reported that to
their parents, who then reported that situation to the police.

(00:53):
On Friday, through our government schools across the Darwin region,
we did send something out to all families because I
think this is a really important time that we again
have that conversation with our young people around how is
it we're making sure we're safe in our environment. We
talked about three hours and the information we sent home
the first are recognize make sure our young people can

(01:13):
recognize and be aware of the surroundings and trust their instincts.
Second hour as react if something feels wrong, take action
to ensure your safety, move away, quickly, run, find your
way to a trusted adult, and then the report informed
a trusted adult about any situations where you might feel unsafe.
So I think it's a really important message in conversation

(01:34):
for families to have with their young people, with their children,
because the safety of their young people is obviously.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Paramount absolutely, and I mean a lot of us trust
that we're able to send our kids to school walking
or riding their bike, and then to think that somebody's
trying to entice them into a vehicle is pretty worrying. Indeed, now,
are you able to say which school these happened at
or what area.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
It was in the Northern Suburbs cadem I'm not going
to identify the specific schools because I don't want to
risk identifying the young people that were involved in the situation.
And the other thing about the Northern Suburbs is it's
less than five minute drive between many about schools, So
at risks or a danger that some students were affected by,
I think we need to consider as a risk right

(02:21):
across the suburbs.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yes, spot on. I mean, in terms of both of
these incidents, is the concern here that they are linked?
I mean, do we have much of an idea in
terms of the description of the vehicle involved.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, We've made sure the police have that information so
they can look at whatever mechanisms and measures that they
can responding to the incident and ensuring safety moving forwards.
I think the opportunity now is for all of our
families to think about, you know, talk with their children
about how they get to school or what their safety
mechanisms are. As I said that record react to report

(03:01):
and also can things like you know, is there other
children on the same street where you can walk to
school together? Going together? Thinking about whether you know pick
up or drop off arrangements are in place in a
really safe way to protect our young people.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Paul, We've also been contacted about another well additional incidents
in the northern suburbs involving a tan colored car. Are
you aware of any further incidents.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
I haven't had that reported to me, Katie. I think
maybe offline it would be great if you could pass
that information onto the department. Yeah, make sure police have
been contacted and that we can understand what might be
the situation there.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Now, I understand that you have obviously as you've touched on,
you've sent that letter home, you've already given some of
that advice. But what reassurance can you give two concerned
parents that are listening this morning, that are thinking, goodness,
may you know this is a worry and and you
know I need my kids to be able to get
to and from school independently without having to worry about
something like these.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Absolutely and that independence. You know, we don't also don't
want to resort to a situation where we don't allow
our students, to young people to develop skills and independence
to move around our community. So we don't want to
be in a knee jerk space. I can absolutely assure
families that schools do talk with students around this, and
I know on Friday again, coming out of the incidents
on Thursday, schools had those conversations with students just to

(04:26):
be aware of their surroundings. If something doesn't feel right,
you know, take action to ensure safety and report any
incidence that's wort to come up. So schools do talk
with and help young people understand their safety and mechanisms
they can take or things they can do to keep
themselves safe. We do our parents also consider it and

(04:48):
have that same conversation with children so that you can
have assurance in terms of how your young person gets
to them from school.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, it's like, did schools then have a duty of
care when it comes to kids getting home safe?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
So schools are traveling through you know, the school bus
service for instance, and that's something that we're keenly aware
of their duty of care. We can't extend the duty
of care to students as they travel through the community.
We do ask parents to consider how it is your
young person gets to and from school and ensure that
there's a good plan in place for the young person

(05:26):
to make their way safely to them from school.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Now, just in terms of anybody listening this morning, any
parents listening this morning that are sort of seriously worried,
you know, I know you've already spoken about that advice
for people, but you know, if they have got concerns,
if they've seen something, if you know, if there is
something that they feel the Education Department needs to know about,
what's the best way for them to raise that should

(05:51):
they get in contact with the school.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah. I think there's actually two things that we'd ask Katie.
So the first piece is if something's not right, we
actually need to actually those reports are made to the
police so the police have a full picture of any
concerns around safety for our young people in the community.
The second thing I would ask them to do is
to talk to their school leadership, so the principal and
the school so that you know, the school can be

(06:14):
aware of that and consider and whether additional information is
to go out to families or to consider actions the
school can take around those safety messages and safety aspects well.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Paul Van Holstein, Department of Education and Training's Deputy Chief
Executive of Schools, really appreciate your time this morning. Thank
you very much for joining us.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
No worries, Katie, have a great day you too.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Thank you