The Minister of Civil Defence, John Carter, today launched a new, fully revised, schools’ resource to help children, schools and families be better prepared for disasters.

What’s the Plan Stan? is being distributed to all primary and intermediate schools. As well as being a teaching resource to help children understand and prepare for disasters, it is also designed to help schools develop their own emergency plans. A third purpose is to provide information that families can use to plan for emergencies at home and in their communities.

“With the new national curriculum starting in schools next year, we took the opportunity to set up a team of teachers and civil defence staff from around the country to review how emergency management is taught in schools,” Mr Carter said.

“They have come up with a great new package – much more than just a tweak to make the words fit the new curriculum.

“We did not want to add to teachers’ heavy work-loads. Stan has been designed so that it can be used in all of the learning areas of the new curriculum. Teachers will not have to take time out from a subject they are teaching but, instead, will be able to include the lesson plans and ideas from Stan in those learning areas.”

The handbook, website and CD-ROM include information, pictures, videos and links relating to the most recent disaster events in New Zealand and overseas. They include the Gisborne earthquake, New Zealand snow storms and flu outbreaks.

A lot of work has been done to provide resources that schools can use to plan and carry out emergency drills and exercises at individual, class and school-wide levels. These include disaster simulations, and evacuations. Schools are also encouraged to plan for situations where children cannot be evacuated and need to be sheltered in the school e.g. in the event of a chemical spill, if roads are closed etc.
Children will be encouraged to take home the ideas they learn at school, share them with their families, friends and neighbours, and look at how they might use them away from school.

Background information

Contents of What’s the Plan Stan?

• a guide for teachers, including unit plans and activities
• a CD–Rom for teachers and students, including stories, interactive games, research material, tips for teachers and resources that can be cut and pasted into unit plans; the CD-Rom can also be run off the school’s intranet.
• a website, www.what'stheplanstan.govt.nz

The guide includes:

• unit plans, activities and ideas to increase students’ confidence in emergency planning and practice
• fact sheets about different types of disasters
• simulation and practice activities that involve the school and community agencies
• information about the roles of principals, Boards of Trustees and community agencies
• templates for the activities and suggested resources including books and websites.

The website and CD-Rom include:
1. Useful resources for teachers, including:

• Word and PDF files of the teachers’ guide, unit plans and all the templates, for printing and adapting
• links to websites and organisations
• ideas for using the website and CD-Rom with students.

2. Fun activities, information and interactive stories for students, including:

• details of earthquakes, tsunami, volcanoes, floods, storms and non-natural disasters and what to do in these events
• map of disasters and events in every region of New Zealand
• interactive stories and quiz games
• information on selected historic disasters
• photographs and video clips.

Distribution

• the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management will send copies to all primary and intermediate schools free of charge
• civil defence staff from 20 city and district councils are delivering copies to the schools in their areas so that they can support and work with those schools
• What’s the Plan Stan? was presented at the Principals’ Federation national conference in June
• the Ministry’s Director, John Hamilton, has written to all primary and intermediate school principals.