Funding cuts hit Life Ed’s Healthy Harold program for young students

An iconic school health education program featuring a giraffe called Healthy Harold is under threat, with schools already forced to stop using it, citing state government funding cuts.

An iconic school health education program featuring a giraffe called Healthy Harold is under threat, with one school already forced to stop using it, citing state government funding cuts.

The Healthy Harold program has been a fixture in schools since it was established in the late-1970s by the late Reverend Ted Noffs in Kings Cross in response to an explosion in illicit drug use.

Soaring demand resulted in a mobile classroom for Life Ed, as it’s officially called, being set up to tour schools across NSW and Australia.

Healthy Harold now hosts his own Facebook page, where he has amassed more than 114,000 followers.

However, a decision by the Department of Education to stop centrally funding the program means schools have to pay for the program themselves, or pass on the costs to parents.

Healthy Harold from Life Education shows off his nutritious lunch box.

The funding cut has resulted in some schools, such as Blakehurst Primary School (BPS), ending their association with the organisation.

In an email to Life Ed, ­obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, BPS principal Jodie Savellis said the “unexpected loss in expenditure” and the “financial strain” the community was currently experiencing meant it was no longer “financially viable” to continue with the program.

“BPS has historically subsidised payments but due to a recent decrease in funding, this is no longer possible,” she said.

“An unexpected loss in expenditure has impacted our ability to fund extra-curricular programs.

“Our community is currently under financial strain, and we have had to prioritise and limit activities requiring costs to families.

“BPS has supported Life Education for many years but as stated above, it is not currently financially viable.”

While representatives for Life Ed would not comment on the matter, organisers have recently raised concerns with local MPs about some of the challenges schools have been facing, including raising the notion that the increase in teacher salaries may have come at the cost of schools’ budgets.

It is understood Life Ed had been visiting Blakehurst Primary School yearly since 2010.

Healthy Harold teaching students in the ’80s.

It is not the first time Healthy Harold has faced the axe, with the federal government moving to cut funding to the program in 2017.

A social media backlash at the time quickly forced the government to reverse its decision.

Targeting three to 13-year-olds, the program receives grants from the state and federal governments, does its own fundraising and relies on a delivery fee per student.

The state government has attributed a fall in enrolments for cutting school budgets by 1.25 per cent cut — or around $148m.

Last June, the Department of Education stopped centrally funding Life Education after it was assessed against existing health education programs already being run in schools.

It is understood schools wanting to keep the program can fund it themselves.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said the decisions to stop the program at Blakehurst followed departmental assessment.

“Our schools teach the PDHPE curriculum using the expertise of their teaching staff,” she said.

“They also have access to a range of stage-appropriate and quality assured PDHPE resources on the department’s Universal Resource Hub.

“Schools regularly review programs from external providers to ensure they remain educationally appropriate.

“The decision to discontinue Life Education at this school was based on an educational assessment by the principal and the department stands by the decision.”

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