When someone in a school community is diagnosed with cancer, people usually want to help but may not be sure where to start. Cancer in the School Community is a guide for school staff who would like to support students, families and colleagues affected by cancer. The content is relevant for all primary and secondary school staff and it may also be useful for parents, students and family members.
Health Conditions
Cancer in the School Community
The Kids Institute Discovery Centre
The Kids Research Institute Australia is one of the largest and most successful medical research institutes in Australia. We’ve created a bold blueprint that brings together community, researchers, practitioners, policy makers and funders, who share our vision to improve the health and wellbeing of children through excellence in research.
What can you expect to explore at the Discovery Centre?
The Discovery Centre is full of fun and educational games for kids to learn about science, health and medical research.
- Explore the human body using an ultrasound, X-ray or MRI and discover what researchers are doing to find out more about body organs.
- Get up close with our special microscopes, take a look inside the mouth, ear and skin and find out why our researchers are interested in snot, poo and dust mites.
- Take a tour of the places we do research – in the lab, clinic and community.
- See if you can defeat the cancer cells using immunotherapy or catch the allergens in the airway.
The Discovery Centre provides a unique experience for children aged 7 and up, and you never know – the parents might learn something too!
Anaphylaxis resources for schools
Schools need to be allergy aware and work with parents, guardians and children in the management of anaphylaxis.
School staff should refer to relevant policy documents and available training for managing anaphylaxis in a school environment.
The Information for Health Professionals – Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) site provides further information.
DonateLife WA
DonateLife WA aims to raise awareness and encourage discussion about organ and tissue donation in the wider community. Currently only 38% of Western Australian’s have registered their donation decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register and nationally only 8% of all 16–25-year-olds have registered their decision. It is now possible to register online in less than a minute at – https://donatelife.gov.au/register-donor-today – you just need your Medicare details.
How we help you:
- We share expert knowledge, experience, and passion in a fun and interactive way with your students.
- We help you teach students about the organ and tissue donation process and why it is important to talk about it with family and friends.
We make it interesting!
- We tell real-life stories.
- We use videos, prizes, and engaging content.
- School education resources and information about organ and tissue donation are also available online – https://www.donatelife.gov.au/education-resources. These are aligned to the learning descriptions in the Australian Curriculum and are now available for both teachers and students.
Getting your school involved
Getting involved with a DonateLife event is an easy way to help bring the organ and tissue donation lessons to life for your students.
There are three main events you could choose to take part in each year, giving the students something fun to do, while also raising awareness in your school community about DonateLife.
The Gift of Life Walk encourages schools to take students on a 5k walk, whether that be multiple times around the school oval, or on a route near the school. It’s a double bonus to take part in the walk as the students get to be active, while learning a bit more about a sensitive topic. If you register your school when registrations open, you’ll be sent some free shirts and caps for the students to wear!
DonateLife Week is the national awareness raising week for organ and tissue donation. During the week you could host a morning tea and sell cute heart-shaped biscuits (monies raised could be donated to your local children’s hospital or favourite charity); ask your local DonateLife agency to send in a guest speaker to speak at assembly; run a ‘design a DonateLife poster’ competition or hold a poetry or writing competition.
Jersey Day was started by Nathan Gremmo’s family to honour the 13-year-old who donated his organs following an accident. It’s easy to take part in the day, just tell your students to wear their favourite sports jersey, then take some photos and post them to your school social pages tagging #donatelife.
DonateLife WA also offers school assembly and in classroom guest speaker (Year 11 & 12 students), and attendance at School Health Expositions.
For further information, please ask to speak with the Communications Officer.
Manage My Asthma Kids Club
The manage my asthma kids club is a free club for kids with asthma aged 5-12 years. The club aims to provide children and their parents with asthma information in regular newsletters and also provides free one on one asthma education. There are also regular giveaways, competitions and resources.
Epilepsy Schools Program
Epilepsy WA delivers a WA-specific curriculum to help schools meet their duty of care to students living with epilepsy. We offer teacher training opportunities both in-person and via our online learning portal, tailored to ensure educators feel confident in supporting children with epilepsy. Schools can access a free web-based platform containing practical resources, including epilepsy management templates, through the Epilepsy WA website.
Life Education Programs
Life Education WA provide a range of age appropriate Curriculum outcome based programs from Kindergarten to Year 6. Click for more information for K and PP and for primary modules here. The sections marked in yellow refer to Mental Health outcomes. Life Education WA partner with both Government and Non Government Schools and provide education to around 30,000 primary students each year.
Better Health Program – A free healthy lifestyle program for children 6-12 years.
Better Health Program – Free & Online Healthy Lifestyle Program for Children 6 – 12
The Better Health Program is a free healthy lifestyle program for children 6 – 12 and their
families. Funded by the Government of Western Australia Department of Health, the program is free for eligible families in WA.
Families will be paired with a personal health coach who will support them to build healthy habits as a family over 10 coaching calls. Areas of support include:
- Quality nutrition,
- Active movement,
- Balancing screen-time,
- Sleep routines, and more!
Families will also get access to a library of fun online activities and bite-sized learning resources to help put advice into practice and will receive a gift voucher upon completion of the program.
Check out our group-based programs here; betterhealthprogram.org/program-location-list/.
If you would like to sign your family up, head to betterhealthprogram.org/ or reach out to our team on 1300 822 953.
If you are an organisation and would like to work with us to promote this out to your community, you can contact Emily – our community engagement officer – at Emily.a@betterhealthcompany.org or (08) 6727 9359.
PPEP Talk Schools Program
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The Periods, Pain and Endometriosis (PPEP Talk®) Program is an initiative of the Pelvic Pain Foundation of Australia (PPFA), funded by the Federal Government Department of Health with support from State and Territory Governments. This curriculum-linked health and wellbeing education program is aimed at students in Year 10, an age where most students will have begun menstruating. PPEP Talk® addresses the number one priority of the National Action Plan for Endometriosis – education and awareness. It plays a critical role in informing and educating students to recognise and identify whether their pain is normal, how all the different symptoms fit together, simple ways to reduce their pain, and how to look for further help if pain is severe. PPEP Talk® is a fun, medically accurate and age-appropriate information session incorporating the modern neuroscience of pain, of benefit to all students, particularly the 1 in 4 girls and people assigned female at birth with severe period pain. The Program, lasting one hour, is delivered by fully trained educators and incorporates animation, video and interactive components. It includes specifically developed resources for use during the session and resources for girls with pain to take home and discuss with their parents. The 60-minute session is followed by an opportunity for individual students, or teachers, with specific or personal pain concerns to discuss these with the program educator individually. In this way, PPEP Talk® provides early intervention and supports girls, families, teachers, and schools at a time when pain is more easily managed, and the life effects of pain and missed school can be most efficiently minimised. |
RAC School Education
RAC offers free education programs, resources and events to primary and secondary school students across Western Australia.
Primary school incursions include: road safety education, healthier air education and RAC Imagine Program Futures Challenge.
RAC offers a variety of secondary school presentations including road safety, purchasing a vehicle, drink, drugs and driving, and car maintenance and safety. Find out more and book a presentation. Secondary school presentations include: On The Road school incursions, RAC bstreetsmart, and RAC Project Road Smart.
