Children are the winners with Healthy Harold funding announcement
Wednesday, 26 Oct 2022
Visits from Healthy Harold are treasured and impactful experiences for Australian children and the support is set to continue with the federal government honouring the previous government’s funding commitment of $6 million over four years for health education provider Life Ed Australia, in last night’s budget.
As well as supporting Life Ed operations generally, this funding commitment will help Life Ed to develop online safety educational materials for younger children in Years 1-4. The new materials will cover empathy and respect for others, risk-taking and consequences, cyberbullying, grooming and managing exposure to harmful online content.
The funding will also be used by Life Ed to integrate and adapt existing consent education materials for students from Foundation to Year 6. In addition, funding will support Life Ed to implement recommendations arising from an evaluation of the Life Ed program.
Life Ed Australia CEO Russell D’Costa thanked the Federal Government for its continued commitment to children’s health and wellbeing and said the funding will enable Life Ed to continue its mission of empowering children and young people to make safer and healthier choices through education.
“We know the biggest impact happens early in life. The Federal Government’s funding commitment will set children up for life, creating positive health outcomes for years to come,” Mr D’Costa said.
The funding will help us to equip Aussie children throughout their school years with the skills and knowledge they need in key focus areas including online safety, respectful relationships and consent education.
For more than 40 years, Life Ed’s curriculum-aligned “Healthy Harold” programs have benefited approximately 700,000 children each year from 4,300 Australian preschool, primary and secondary schools.
