General News
15 December, 2022
Natte kids know farm safety
Having grown up on farms, Natte Yallock Primary School students have shown they know a thing or two about farm safety, receiving several awards from Kidsafe Victoria. The school was one of a number of schools across the state to enter Kidsafe’s...
Having grown up on farms, Natte Yallock Primary School students have shown they know a thing or two about farm safety, receiving several awards from Kidsafe Victoria.
The school was one of a number of schools across the state to enter Kidsafe’s Farm Safety Creative Competition this year, which sees students design educational material that promotes injury prevention on the farm.
Students created either posters and collages, illustrated stories and comic strips or video or radio ads around the theme of farm safety heroes and how everyone can play a part in making the farm safe.
Four of the school’s students, Hunter Zimmer, Amber Smith, Alice and Olive Mortlock were awarded first, second or third places in their respective category and classroom teacher Courtney Falzon said the competition was identified as something worthwhile for the students.
“We registered for Kidsafe Victoria’s Farm Safety Creative Competition and we thought it was a perfect opportunity to get involved, these kids grew up on farms and it’s where they live,” she said.
“Last term we started making our submissions, the theme was how to be a farm safety hero and that’s what we centred all our submissions around.
“We had three illustrated stories the senior students made, we had a radio ad and a video promoting water safety, how to be safe around animals and general farm safety.”
Ms Falzon said while the students were at an advantage living in a rural farming community, the unit was worthwhile.
“At the start of the unit the kids thought they already knew everything there was to know about farm safety because they’ve grown up with it but as it went on, I think they really enjoyed it,” she said.
“When it got time for making their submissions they had an absolute ball.
“These kids had a bit of an advantage coming from a farm with that background information, but it’s still important to focus on that information.”
Receiving third prize for her illustrated story, student Alice Mortlock said she enjoyed learning about farm safety.
“When we started farm safety I thought it was a weird subject to work on but when I was learning it was actually okay, I learnt that you do actually have to be safe on the farm because you never know what could happen,” she said.
“I enjoyed writing my story, Bob’s Farm, it was really fun and was about kids going to their grandfather’s farm and they went on a tour and learnt about the bad things that can happen on the farm and how to avoid it happening.”
The student’s winning entries will form the basis of a farm safety education campaign targeting Victorian parents and carers with important information on farm safety, which will run early next year.
