Healthy Harold curriculum changes to match NT schools’ needs

A giraffe – and his puppeteers – have been teaching Territory children about ‘respecting their bodies’ for 36 years. See how Healthy Harold has evolved in pictures.

Healthy Harold started teaching NT students in the 80s.

Healthy Harold has taught NT children about healthy living habits for 36 years but his words of wisdom – and puppetry – have evolved.

The beloved giraffe’s curriculum started with just seven modules – one per class level.

Life Education NT health educator Suzi Spedding said Healthy Harold now ran 14 modules for primary school children.

Healthy Harold came to the NT 36 years ago due to concerns about drug and substance abuse among young Territorians.

Ms Spedding said the modules she taught with Healthy Harold had aligned with NT schools’ curriculum since the 80s.

“Back in those days, Life Education was predominantly a drug-education program,” she said.

“The education that we provided for very young children was around respecting their bodies and how they looked after their bodies – healthy food, nutrition, and exercise,” she said.

“Then moving on to safe practices around medicines and being mindful … and of course with our upper primary students, we had a big focus around tobacco and alcohol.”

Life Education NT educator Suzi Spedding has worked alongside Healthy Harold for 20 years. A young student gave Ms Spedding a picture he drew of Healthy Harold playing the guitar, which Harold promised to hang on his bedroom wall.

Ms Spedding said tobacco and alcohol modules were still present for students but demand for different modules increased over the past seven years.

“A lot of our focus is now on social and emotional health and wellbeing, and a lot of our focus now is being safe in the cyber world,” she said.

“The drug education is still there but because the curriculum has changed, we’ve had to change with it.”

Healthy Harold started teaching NT students in the 80s.

Ms Spedding is the Territory’s longest-running Healthy Harold educator having started 20 years ago.

“The warmest, most beautiful moment I had outside the local Woolies – I actually had a mum get really emotional,” she said.

“She spotted me and she gave me a big hug, and she said, ‘I see you here all the time, and I just wanted to say thank you’.”

Ms Spedding said the woman’s daughter had attended Healthy Harold’s classes throughout primary school.

“The sessions that we had in the van were so impactful on her in regards to being healthy and looking after the body that she became a nurse,” she said.

As the Darwin educator, Ms Spedding said she worked with about 10,000 students each year.