Mobile classroom brings Life Education to Hunter and Central Coast

Wednesday, 11 October, 2017

Life Education Australia will take its positive health education to more than 140 schools in the Hunter and Central Coast each year, with the help of a $77,000 grant from the Foundation.  

Life Education NSW used the grant to replace its 12-year-old truck used to transport Mobile Learning Centres to regional schools to deliver preventative drug and health messages to thousands of young people.

Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation Chairman Phil Neat said the benefits of the healthy lifestyle and decision-making program delivered by Life Education were far reaching.

"For nearly 40 years Life Education has helped young people entering some of their most influential and formative years to make life choices that help them live a healthy and happy life," he said. 

"The Charitable Foundation aims to support programs just like this one, which help young people reach their potential, build stronger communities and prevent negative health and social behaviours."

Hunter Life Education Executive Officer Sarah Gray said the Hunter and Central Coast truck was one of the most heavily used in the state.

"The new truck will transport the local mobile classroom to more than 140 schools each year, with the potential for more than 120,000 students to benefit from our fun and interactive program over the next 10 years," she said. 

"As Australia’s largest not-for-profit provider of preventative health education, operating five Mobile Learning Centres in the Hunter and Central Coast, we are dependent on the performance of our towing vehicle, so this grant is vital to engaging with children in these regions." 

The Life Education programs, which have made a celebrity of mascot Healthy Harold the giraffe, have been empowering students to make healthier choices since 1979 and seek to address the negative effects of unhealthy lifestyles. 

In NSW’s regional and rural areas, regionally-based educators operate in Mobile Learning Centres, visiting primary schools and pre-schools to deliver children's health and well-being programs, focusing on resilience, nutrition, exercise, drugs and alcohol.