Healthy Harold

HEALTHY HAROLD GETS BACK INTO CLARENCE VALLEY SCHOOLS

Clarence Valley Council is proud to support Life Ed’s mission to get back into schools after the pandemic and deliver Healthy Harold’s preventative health and mental wellbeing program in the region.

The nation’s hardest working giraffe, Healthy Harold, educates young students with practical life lessons delivered in an engaging and captivating way. Using the latest research, the age-specific program empowers children to make healthier choices, covering topics from cyber safety, the human body and emotional wellbeing to personal safety and drugs and alcohol. Mayor Ian Tiley witnessed first-hand what a valuable educational resource Healthy Harold is for school-aged students when he visited Year One at Clarence Valley Anglican School. “The messages conveyed was most insightful and useful, and to say the children were very engaged would be an understatement,” Mayor Tiley said. “Healthy Harold is most entertaining for these kids.” Clarence Valley Council supports Life Ed annually with $6,000 assistance to move Life Ed’s Mobile Learning Centre between schools. In the last 12 months Council assistance has allowed 1,179 children in 12 schools in the Clarence Valley LGA to receive a visit from Healthy Harold. “Positive lifestyle choices contribute to the improved wellbeing of young people and have a progressive flow-on impact on families and communities,” Chief Executive Officer Life Ed NSW/ACT Jonathon Peatfield said. “Life Ed’s program equips students with the ability to make positive choices and the skills to overcome challenges that impact happiness and long-term life trajectory.” Life Ed’s accredited Educators facilitate 90-minute NSW curriculum-aligned modules to schools utilising five unique and innovative methods - mobile learning centres, pop-up classrooms, in-class delivery and the new virtual and online modules. “Mental wellbeing education is more essential than ever as young people adapt and recover after Covid-19.” “The pandemic has presented ongoing challenges for communities, schools and our organisation. There are heightened levels of distress for students, families and teachers, which we account for in our health education – particularly mental health content,” Mr Peatfield said. Assisting Life Ed is just one of the many ways Clarence Valley Council is proactive in providing support, services and facilities for the betterment of our local community.

Image above: Healthy Harold facilitator Lee-Ellen Francis, Mayor Ian Tiley and year one students from Clarence Valley Anglican School. Opp. page (L-R): Cr Pickering, Laura Smith-Khan, Alana Brooks, Cr Karen Toms (Access Committee Chairperson), Margaret Lawrence, Jennifer O’Brien and Ross McCann.