This year’s statewide Shade Grants Initiative invited local Department for Education schools and early childhood centres to apply for up to $50,000 to build or upgrade a permanent shade structure.
The sites receiving Shade Grant funding include:
- Hawker Childhood Services Centre
- Karcultaby Area School
- Lake Windemere B-6 School
- Park Terrace Kindergarten (Port Lincoln)
- Penong Primary School
- Peterborough Community Preschool
- Willsden Childhood Services Centre (Port Augusta)
- Willunga Preschool.
Lake Windemere B-6 School, located in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, will use their grant to erect shade over their brand-new playground, which is expected to be completed by Christmas.
Principal Michelle Lennox-Pavlovich says the entire school community is really excited to see the works commence.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to ensure that we are providing safe and inclusive outdoor learning spaces for our students,” she says.
Lake Windemere School is really proud to be a SunSmart School and we have been for a long time.
“Our students have had lots of voice and input into the development of [our playground], along with our governing council. I really want to thank Preventive Health SA and Cancer Council SA.”
More than 160 South Australian Department for Education schools and early childhood centres applied for funding through the grants program.
Cancer Council SA Senior Manager Prevention Christine Morris says the number of applications was overwhelming, but highlighted the demand for shade structures at South Australian schools.
“Lots of schools don’t have enough shade and they tell us this all the time, so we really encourage them to put the time in to do grant applications like this when they come up,” she says.
“All of the schools and centres we’ve spoken to who have gotten these grants are really thrilled because budgets are tight, funding is hard to come by, and by giving them a grant they can build something that will protect children and staff for many years to come.”
Cancer Council SA Senior Manager Prevention Christine Morris (left), Chief Executive Kerry Rowlands, Lake Windemere B-6 School Principal Michelle Lennox-Pavlovich and Preventive Health SA Chief Executive Marina Bowshall.
Alongside access to shade structures, Ms Morris says it’s important to continue teaching children and young people SunSmart behaviours to lower their lifetime risk of skin cancer.
“With two in three Australians diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime, it is vital we protect our young people from harmful UV to reduce their risk of skin cancer later in life,” she says.
“These grants complement our SunSmart Schools and Early Childhood Program, which is currently supporting over 1,100 South Australian schools, OSHC services and early childhood centres to embed sun protection in their day-to-day activities.
“In recent times, we’ve seen some important research which shows adults who are 30 years and younger now have fewer melanomas diagnosed, which is an indication of the success of the SunSmart program in South Australia.”
Preventive Health SA Chief Executive Marina Bowshall says it is vital to continue partnering with Cancer Council SA on a range of cancer prevention initiatives across the state.
“While children comprise 20 per cent of the population, they are 100 per cent of our future,” she says.
“Protecting their health and wellbeing is an important component of Preventive Health SA’s work and we’re really pleased to be partnering with Cancer Council SA to make sure we can do everything possible to prevent cancer.”
