Today, Friday October 30, is the eleventh annual Day for Daniel.

It is a national day of action to raise awareness of child safety, protection and harm prevention in memory of Daniel James Morcombe, a 13-year-old boy who was abducted, and subsequently murdered, from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, in 2003.

As part of their participation in the day both schools had members of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) National Missing Persons Coordination Centre at their schools to give presentations and help empower the children to recognise, react and report if they feel something is not right. 

The team also brought the Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s ‘Big Red’ promotional truck to each school. 

​“It is very special to Denise and Bruce [Morcombe] that Big Red came to this area, as they holidayed in Merimbula and Pambula when Daniel was a toddler,” local ambassador Melissa Pouliot said.

The aim of the bus is to educate children and adults on keeping safe through child safety and protection initiatives.

A serious topic was made understandable by Day for Daniel ambassador and team leader of the AFP National Missing Persons Coordination Centre Rebecca Kotz who presented the Daniel Morconbe Keeping Kids Safe program to the pupils. 

“If these presentations can save just one child, then it’s worth it,” Ms Kotz said. 

“It is amazing what these kids are doing online these days but they need to be safe and they need to know what they can do if something bad happens.”

Ms Kotz said it is also of vital importance that parents are well informed and know what their child is doing online. 

As part of the Day for Daniel celebrations students were encouraged to wear their brightest red shirts following the day’s theme ‘Wear Red and Educate’ and there was a special visit from Elmo. 

Despite being a serious and important topic the students at both schools had a great time.