Lesson 1 – 40 minutes
Learning outcomes
- Develop an understanding of surf life saving in Australia
- Identify the surf club as a welcoming place
- Identify times when they might feel unsafe and can ask for help
- Identify adults at their surf club who can help them
- Identify and demonstrate the SunSmart guidelines
- Understand the consequences of skin damage caused by sunburn
Preparation
- Ensure the club is accessible for the club tour.
- Worksheet: Personal Safety Networks.
- Collect a range of (ideally specific) posters and flyers from outside organizations i.e., Cancer Council.
- Whiteboard and markers (optional).
IMPORTANT
- If you are not confident discussing the personal safety topics in this lesson, identify and bring in somebody who can help, i.e., a teacher, club captain, club president, police officer, etc.
Discuss
- Welcome all the participants and parents to the junior program and surf club.
- Introduce (from those available) the main people involved in running the junior program or the club.
- Discuss some of the history of surf life saving in Australia and in particular, the history of your club – include any interesting facts you might know
Activity 1
- Take your group of participants and parents on a tour of the surf club and surrounding environment.
- Point out areas of interest and importance at your surf club e.g. showers/toilets, club hall, equipment shed, patrol room, IRB room, first aid room etc.
- Finish the tour by setting the boundaries for junior activities around the surf club and beach.
Discuss
- Ask the participants if they have any questions about the history of surf life saving, the junior program or the surf club and do your best to answer them.
- Find a quiet place in the surf club and arrange the participants into a semi-circle before you.
- Ask each participant to introduce themselves and their nickname if they have one.
- Using the following conversation starters generate a discussion on feelings:
- Can you think of a time when you felt unsafe at the beach?
- When/why?
- Why is it important to always feel safe?
- Using the following conversation starters, generate a discussion on why it is important to have adults you can trust around you all the time (i.e. a Personal Safety Network):
- Who are the people that keep us safe?
- At home (parents, older brothers and sisters, caregivers etc.)
- At the beach (lifesavers, parents etc.).
- During the junior program (Water Safety Personnel, Age Managers etc.).
- When might you need help during the junior program, and who would you talk to about it?
- When they feel scared about an activity (Age Manager).
- If they get caught in a rip (Water Safety Personnel).
- If someone is bullying them (Age Manager, people in their personal safety network). Provide the participants with words they can use when they talk to others, e.g. “I am feeling a little scared about….” “Can I talk to you about something…”
Activity 2
- Finish the lesson by having the participants complete the Personal Safety Network worksheet in their workbook or have them complete it at home with their parents.
Discuss
- Ask the participants to recall the SunSmart guidelines (or state specific slogan)
- Slip, Slop, Slap, Wrap, Seek.
Activity 3
Using butchers paper or a whiteboard write one of the SunSmart guidelines in the middle in large letters:
1. ‘Slip’ = Ask the group to brainstorm all the things they need to think about with this guideline:
2. ‘Slip’ = Long sleeve shirt, best if has an SPF rating etc.
3. ‘Slop’ = need to re-apply sunscreen every two hours, use waterproof sunscreen if going in water, etc.
4. ‘Slap’ = wide-brimmed, any hat better than none, protect ears etc.
5. ‘Wrap’ = UV rated, large enough to cover eyes etc.
6. ‘Seek’ = best ways to get out of sun, trees, inside etc.
7. ‘Sunshine’ = hottest between 11-3, play indoors during this time etc.
When the group has exhausted all options repeat the brainstorm for each of the other individual SunSmart guidelines.
Discuss
- Encourage the participants to talk about times they have been sunburnt – what happened when they were burnt (i.e. can be painful, peeling and irritation etc.).
- Discuss with the participants how the worst consequence of sunburn is skin cancer (melanoma).
- A dangerous form of cancer.
- Shows up in deformed moles on your skin.
- Won’t necessarily get it where you have been burnt (i.e. could get it between toes) .
- Getting burnt when you are young could mean getting melanoma when you are old.
- Discuss ways in which you can monitor skin cancer:
- Have your moles checked when you visit the doctor.
- Getting a mole map (where pictures are taken of your moles and are used to assess and create a mole history).
- But the best form of monitoring skin cancer is prevention!
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