The Schoolies Week Health and Safety Project
Schoolies Week is now an established youth cultural phenomenon that has been a ritual for school leavers for about the last 30 years.
In the past, areas such as the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, where most Schoolies go for their holidays, have been adversely affected by large crowds of drunken teenagers and young adults celebrating their graduation from high school by indulging in harmful consumption of alcohol.
Since 1993, Queensland Health workers and their partners in local government, Police, Emergency Services, Transport and the non government sector have pooled their resources to plan and implement a set of strategies that seek to minimise harm whilst promoting the positive aspects of celebrating this significant rite of passage for young people.
This collaborative planning has been responsible for a comprehensive public education campaign with a range of targeted resources for senior high school students as well as a set of more generic resources designed to enhance the health and safety of high school graduates participating in Schoolies Week events around Queensland.
The resources include
- 40,000 information booklets for year 12 students on health, safety and legal issues pertinent to Schoolies Week
- a Schoolies Week checklist advertisement in Exit Lines, a publication from the Board of Senior Secondary School Studies
- a website with up to date information about Schoolies Week activities from a range of common Schoolies Week destinations. The website is at http://www.schooliesweek.com.au
- local information resources promoting important contact numbers and calendar of events
- a Schoolies Video and a set of 3 lesson plans for use in schools prior to Schoolies Week.
Contact Officer
Senior Adviser Prevention
Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Services
Telephone: +61-7-32341942
Email
This page last updated:
10 November, 2005
Review date: July, 2006
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