Looking after
young actors
We film your child every week and we put them in front of casting directors. You are entitled to know exactly what we do about safety, before you enrol rather than after.
The checks
Every FilmLab teacher holds a Blue Card
A Blue Card is Queensland's Working with Children Check. Every FilmLab teacher holds one, and so does Peter, who directs every production day. Students are supervised by a Blue Card holder at all times and are never left alone with anyone who does not hold one.
Blue Card details are recorded before anyone starts, expiry dates are tracked, and anyone whose card lapses does not work with students until it is current again. Documentation is available to any parent who asks.
The checks
- Who holds one
- Every teacher, and Peter, who directs every production day
- Without one
- Never left alone with a student
- Recorded
- Before anyone starts
- Expiries
- Tracked, and renewed before they lapse
- If one lapses
- No work with students until it is current again
- On request
- Documentation, to any parent who asks
In class
What happens on a normal night
Fixed venue, fixed times
Classes run at a known venue with a scheduled start and finish. You always know where your child is and when to collect them.
Nobody waits alone
An educator does not leave while a student is still waiting to be collected. Collecting promptly is asked of you in our terms, and this is our side of it.
One-to-one is never informal
Private coaching is booked, scheduled and known to a parent in advance. It is never an unscheduled arrangement between an adult and a student.
On a production day
A longer day, off site, gets its own arrangements
A production day is not a normal class. It runs longer, it happens somewhere else, and it mixes students from different classes and ages. So it is planned separately.
You are told the venue, the times and who will be there before the day. Students are supervised by a Blue Card holder at all times, and anyone without one is never left alone with a student. Junior students are filmed first, and a parent or carer of each junior stays until their scenes are finished. Teens who are not on camera stay in the shoot room, in the director's sight. Students not currently being filmed are supervised, not left to themselves. Breaks, food and water are scheduled into the day rather than fitted around the shoot, the location is checked for hazards before anyone arrives, and there is a first aid kit on site.
On the day
- Told in advance
- The venue, the times, and who will be there
- Supervision
- Juniors filmed first, with a parent staying; teens stay in the room, in the director's sight
- Between takes
- Students not being filmed are supervised, not left to themselves
- Breaks
- Food and water scheduled into the day, not fitted around the shoot
- The location
- Checked for hazards before anyone arrives
- First aid
- A kit on site
Filming
Publishing needs a yes, and you can take it back
Filming in class is how we teach and it is not optional. Publishing is entirely optional and the choice is yours.
We publish photographs or films of a student only with a yes to public use on the enrolment form, given by a parent, guardian or carer, or by a student over eighteen. That yes can be taken back at any time, and saying no is always fine. That right is unconditional. Exercising it does not affect your child's place, their treatment in class, or their access to anything at all.
We do not publish a student's surname and we do not publish contact details for a student.
Filming and publishing
- In class
- Filmed every week. Not optional, because it is how we teach
- Publishing
- Entirely optional, and the choice is yours
- Who can say no
- A parent, guardian or carer. A student over eighteen, themselves
- When
- At any time
- What it costs
- Nothing. Not their place, their treatment in class, or their access to anything
- Never published
- A student's surname, or contact details for a student
Keeping the room safe
Threats, violence and damage are not accepted
Every student has the right to feel safe at FilmLab, and so does every educator: in class, on production days, arriving and leaving, and in our online groups.
Threats to hurt anyone, including ones said as a joke, violence, intimidating anyone, and damaging property, including anyone's belongings or vehicles, are not accepted.
The first job is everyone's safety. Educators are not expected to physically restrain a student. The student's parent or carer is called to collect them. A threat to harm someone, or violence, is reported to police, and the family of any student it was aimed at is told the same day.
A student returns only after the Director has met the family and agreed a plan. Where safety cannot be assured, a student may be withdrawn from FilmLab, with the classes they can no longer attend refunded pro rata. Where a student has a disability or additional needs, we make reasonable adjustments and work with the family, but the safety of other students and staff comes first.
What happens
- First
- Everyone's safety. 000 if anyone is in danger
- Then
- A parent or carer collects the student
- Threats or violence
- Reported to police
- The family affected
- Told the same day
- Before returning
- A meeting and an agreed plan
For students
At FilmLab, you have the right to
- Feel safe in every class, on every production day, and online.
- Say no to anything that feels wrong, even if an adult asked you.
- Ask for a break, or to sit out a scene, without getting in trouble.
- Know where your videos go and who can see them.
- Be treated fairly, whoever you are and wherever you come from.
- Be listened to and taken seriously.
If something feels wrong, tell someone. You can tell your teacher, your parent or carer, or Peter at [email protected]. You will not be in trouble for telling. If you would rather talk to someone outside FilmLab, Kids Helpline is free, any time, on 1800 55 1800.
If you are in danger right now, call 000.
If something is wrong
Tell us. You do not need to be certain.
Anyone can raise a concern: a student, a parent, an educator or a bystander. You do not need proof and you do not need to be sure.
Raise it with any FilmLab educator, or directly with the Director, Peter Koevari, who is FilmLab's Child Safety Contact, at [email protected]. A concern about an educator goes to the Director; a concern about the Director goes to the Lead Educator, and you can always go straight to the police or to child protection authorities instead. We will tell you what we did with what you told us, and nobody is disadvantaged for raising something in good faith.
If a child is in immediate danger, call 000.
The full Child Safe Policy and Child Safety Code of Conduct, adopted on 11 October 2026, are on the terms and policies page.
Who to tell
- Anything at all
- Any FilmLab educator
- Or directly
- The Director
- About an educator
- The Director
- About the Director
- The Lead Educator
- Instead of us
- The police, or child protection authorities. Always your right
- Immediate danger
- 000