Today SunSmart congratulates Castlemaine Secondary College on successfully securing funding from their local Lions Club to purchase SunSmart hats for their junior students.
SunSmart Manager, Sue Heward, said: “Castlemaine Secondary College has really stepped up their sun protection efforts in the last few years and are exemplary when it comes to instilling SunSmart habits into a secondary school setting. This funding for SunSmart hats shows how secondary schools can be proactive about sun safety and help to provide a sun safe environment for their students during the summer months ahead.”
“Students learn about being SunSmart from an early age, but when the time comes to start secondary school, the importance of sun protection is often no longer emphasised. There is potential for all the good habits instilled since early childhood to be forgotten. Since over exposure to UV during childhood and adolescence is known to be a major risk factor of skin cancer, it is really important that other schools follow Castlemaine Secondary College’s lead when it comes to sun protection."
Assistant Principal of Castlemaine Secondary College, Paul Frye, said: “We noticed that new Year 7 students arriving fresh from primary school with well-established sun protection practices were, within a very short space of time, becoming complacent about looking after their skin. Without the appropriate structures and policies in place, we knew that their sun safe behaviours would become forgotten. So we went about taking steps to change the culture of the school and make sun protection practices the norm for all year levels.”
Castlemaine Secondary College has developed a comprehensive UV policy, created engaging SunSmart competitions, undertaken a shade audit and most recently, successfully secured funding to provide all junior students with SunSmart hats.
Castlemaine Lions Club will be attending the junior school’s morning assembly this morning to present a $2000 cheque to Castlemaine Secondary College.
Castlemaine Lions Club representative, Ross Williams, said: “Lions are volunteers who strive to help and improve their communities in many different ways. That's why we are supporting Castlemaine Secondary College's initiative. Skin cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer in adolescents and young adults, and secondary students still need both help and encouragement to be SunSmart."
SunSmart has a Secondary School UV Program and free resources, specifically developed for Victorian secondary schools. To find out how to join this free program, visit sunsmart.com.au.