Students across Cairns Catholic schools have turned into fashion designers, creating bright, new uniforms for some very important staff members. 

All students in the Cairns Diocese were invited to submit a t-shirt design to promote awareness about safety for themselves and others, as part of National Child Protection Week activities. 

The final design, a blue shirt with the motto “Children are our future”, incorporates a number of winning entries from students across the Far North. 

The shirts will be worn by Student Protection Contacts in schools around the region, to promote greater awareness of who these contacts are. 

Cairns Catholic Education Services Senior Student Protection Officer Ann Barr said everything on the shirt was created by students, including the motto on the back.   

“It was difficult to choose winners, because all the entries were awesome and so many students had taken the time to create such amazing pieces of artwork that related to safe school communities,” she said. 

“We really wanted the final design to be created by students for students. Even though our staff will be wearing the shirts, we wanted them to be different from other work uniforms so they stood out in the school environment for students to have a greater awareness of who their Student Protection Contacts are.” 

Each student whose winning design contributed to the shirt will receive a $250 JB Hi-Fi gift voucher for their efforts. There were four winners in total, while a fifth student received a commendation award.

The shirt was unveiled at launch event on Monday September 7. This year’s National Child Protection Week runs from September 6-12. 

This year’s theme is “Putting Children First” and is a call to action for all Australians to consider how they can prioritise the safety and wellbeing of children in their lives and communities. 

“As this is also the 30th anniversary of Child Protection Week, with the theme of Putting Children First, we also wanted to celebrate work that has occurred prior to 2020,” Ann said. 

“What we have learnt, what we are doing and our commitment to creating and maintaining safe communities for children everywhere.” 

For more information, visit napcan.org.au