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Learning objective
Students explore trusted adults who can help them to feel safe on a 'helping hand'.
Take home messages
Curriculum links
WA HPE Curriculum
Sub-strand: Being healthy, safe and active
- Protective behaviours to keep safe and healthy
- Trusted people in the community who can help individuals feel safe
- Actions that promote safety in a range of situations
International technical guidance on sexuality education
Key concept 4.2 Consent, privacy and bodily integrity
- Everyone has a right to decide who can touch their body, where, and in what way.
Key concept 5.2 Decision making
- Everyone deserves to make their own decisions and all decisions have consequences.
Key concept 5.5 Finding help and support
- Friends, family, teachers, religious leaders and community members can and should help each other.
Materials
- Blank A4 paper (can be coloured) - 1 per student
Before you get started
Before you get started
- Read educator note: Protective behaviours education.
- Protective interrupting - Teachers need to know and understand how to use this technique to prevent students form potentially disclosing sensitive information or abuse in front of other students.
- Managing disclosures - Teachers must be aware of the school and legal procedures if a student discloses personal issues, particularly disclosures of sexual abuse.
Learning activities
Group agreement
5 min
Teaching tip: A group agreement must be established before any Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) program begins to ensure a safe learning environment. Read Essential Tool: Establishing a group agreement for tips on how to create one and what to include.
- Revise or create the class group agreement.
Discussion: Adult we can trust
10 min
- Ask:
Who are some people in our families that we can go to if we need help?
(mum, dad, grandmother, grandfather, aunties, uncles, elders, older siblings, bonus-aunties and uncles)
Teaching tip: This is a good opportunity to discuss cultural diversity - different names used for grandparents and aunties/uncles, etc (e.g. Nonna/Nonno, NaiNai/YeYe, etc)
Who are some people in our community, or not a family member, that we can go to if we need help?
(teachers, police, doctors, security officers, nurses, neighbours, etc)
Body signals
10 min
- Say:
"Close your eyes and think of one of the adults in your life that you love and trust. Picture them being here with you."
- Ask:
How do you feel when you are with someone that you love and trust?
(good, warm, safe, loved, happy, cuddly, protected, etc)
How does your body tell you that you feel this way?
(feel warm in my tummy, feel it in my heart, mind is calm, body is relaxed)
- Say:
"Our bodies are very good at giving as signals to tell us when we feel safe or not safe. A trusted adult is someone that's actions and words make us feel safe."
- Invite students to share who their person was that they thought of as someone they love and trust.
- Ask:
Did everyone have the same adult?
(It is likely that there will be a range of responses.)
- Say:
"We all have different people that we are close to and love and trust. That is ok. Only you can tell who you feel safe with."
Helping hand
20 min
- Ask students to hold up one hand (5 fingers) and see if they can list a trusted adult for each finger.
- In pairs, give students a piece of A4 paper each and have them trace around their partner's hand on a piece of blank paper.
- Ask students to draw a face on the end of each finger to show a different trusted adult.
- Remind students that trusted adults can include teachers, police officers, doctors, family friends, etc.
Teaching tip: It is very important not to list the trusted adults for students to write (e.g. Do not tell them to write mum on the first finger, dad on the second finger, etc). For some students these may not be trusted adults in their lives.
3-2-1 Reflection
Calling emergency services
5 min
- Explain:
"The trusted adults we have listed on our helping hands are all people we can go to if we need help or to talk to about anything."
- Ask:
Who would you call if there was an emergency?
(000, ensure students do not think that the American/UK/etc emergency number works in Australia)
- Say
"Let's pretend we need to phone 000. Pick up your phones and dial 000."
(Model the conversation with the teacher as the operator...
Operator: Ambulance, Fire or Police?
Students: (answer)
Operator: What address?
Students: (say address)
Operator: What has happened?
Students: (answer)
- Note any students who do not know their address and have a teaching assistant work with them to rehearse their address in this scenario at a later date.
- Ask students to add '000' to the palm of their helping hand.
Health promoting schools
Background teacher note: Health promoting schools framework.
Education
- Ensure all staff have received protective behaviours education training and are aware of school policy and legal obligations to report suspected/confirmed abuse.
Environment
- Ensure there are clear policies and procedure for staff on reporting suspected/confirmed abuse
- Ensure it is clear where to report suspected/confirmed child sexual abuse. Is there a link saved on every teacher's computer or signage in common teacher areas?
Partnerships
Family
- Talk Soon. Talk Often: a guide for parents talking to their kids about sex is a free hardcopy resource that can be bulk ordered by schools and website. Send a copy home to parents prior to starting your RSE program. The booklet offers ages and stage related information on puberty (and other topics) so that parents can reinforce the topics covered in class. (How to order hard copies.) Provide the link to parents on school websites and social media.
- Order copies of Puberty and Relationships, sex and other stuff to be sent home for parents. Provide the link to parents on school websites and social media.
- Run a parent workshop and run this activity with parents to model the content that will be covered in your RSE program.
- Run a parent and child evening session, where the children can teach the parents what they have been learning about.
School staff
- Invite the school nurse to your class to answer some of the question box questions. This serves two purposes - they may be able to answer some of the questions you are unsure of and helps to build a relationship between the students and the nurse.
- The school nurse may like to take small groups of students requiring additional or specialised care to run separate activities with on this topic.
