Taking a shine to sun safety
It might be winter but Pauatahanui School students will have images of summer to get them through the cold and wet days, thanks to three of their peers.
The school is working towards Sunsmart accreditation from the Cancer Society, reviewing its own sun safety guidelines through staff, students and community feedback.
An important part of being sun smart is visual cues for children, teacher Christi Grundling says, reminding them of appropriate activities and clothing in the sun.
‘‘To that end we invited the kids to design, by hand or electronically, a mural we could use on our climbing wall and be a centrepoint in our school playground. The brief they had was that the design had to ‘ speak’ to all age groups, from our 5 year olds to intermediates, as well as parents and other family members visiting our school.’’
The winning designers were Cassie Mansfield (first), Lachlan Echegaray ( second) and Trish Nuesca (third). As well as having their creations displayed at the school they were each presented with a bag of goodies from the Health Sponsorship Council at a school assembly on May 11.
‘‘I wanted to make people stop and think about being out in the sun,’’ Cassie said.
Ms Grundling said nearly the entire school submitted designs and picking winners was tough.