ACC Minister Ruth Dyson
Present ACC Thinksafe Schools 'Look Out for Each Other' Competition Awards
Grand Hall, Parliament, Wellington
3.30pm, 22 November 2005

Rau rangatira maa,
tenei te mihi ki a koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te ra.
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

[Distinguished guests, greetings to you gathered here for this purpose today. Greetings once, twice, three times to you all.]

Thank you Darrin (Goulding) for that introduction.

Hi everybody and welcome to Parliament for this very special event celebrating the winning entries of ACC’s Look Out for Each Other competition.

Welcome to those of you who have travelled to Wellington from around the country and thanks to all of you who have agreed to miss out on some classes to be here today.

A big thank you, too, to the teachers, parents and others for supporting all the children and older students in these projects. I know the students really appreciate your involvement.

And a big thank you to the judges who have had the tough task of choosing the winners from the impressive entries.

And last but not least, thank you to ACC for organising this competition.

I am honoured and delighted to present the competition prizes as all of you here today truly deserve the awards you are about to receive.

You have thought very creatively about how to prevent injuries and you have come up with some really original and worthwhile solutions. You have all impressed the judges with the way you have thought about issues that are relevant to the world you live in and the things you do. Your ideas have real potential to make New Zealand a safer place because unfortunately, every week about 250 school-age children on average are injured badly enough to have to go to hospital.

ACC continues to run this competition so that, just like you, more people put their minds into a ThinkSafe gear. Thinking safe – being aware of safety - is the key to preventing injury.

Preventing injury is the key to enjoying everything that life has to offer.

It is important that young New Zealanders know how to experience the world around them to the full and with loads of fun, but safely.

This year’s entries have been truly inspiring. You, the students and your teachers around New Zealand have stepped this competition up another level. In particular, the practical nature of many of the entries is most encouraging – it’s easy to see how your efforts will have a positive impact on the way you and others in your community live.

For example, some entries will have real benefits in the areas of road safety, sunburn prevention, and school-wide hazard identification.

The prizewinners demonstrate how people within a school or early childhood centre can truly make their community a nicer place.

And now it gives me great pleasure to announce the successful entrants.

First, the Early Childhood centres,

Third place getter and recipient of $1,000 is the Poppies Early Childhood Centre, Auckland, who improved the road safety outside their centre.

Second, is Casa Dei Bambini Foundation School, Christchurch, who developed a comprehensive slips and spills education package for children and staff. The Foundation School receives $2,000.

And first place goes to Bluff Kindergarten. Our friends from Bluff created a novel colour-coded method of raising awareness of the relative risks posed by various fixtures and features within the centre’s environment. They receive $3,000.

And now the Primary Schools:

Third place goes to Fendalton School, Christchurch, for the work they did in making the home to school journey much safer for students who ride scooters to school. As you can see in their entry, they really got the wider community on board with parents contributing their time and energy. They receive a cheque for $1,000.

Second place goes to Whau Valley School, Whangarei, who have made their school safer by focusing on the speed of traffic outside their school gate. This is a big issue in New Zealand and one that local councils are now able to address by setting lower speed limits where they think it appropriate. They receive a cheque for $2,000.

And first place is awarded to Levin Intermediate for their student-led efforts in making their playground safer. Child falls, a huge issue for children of their age, is aptly portrayed in the video the youngsters have made. (Peter Jackson would probably be interested in chatting to you guys.)

The students at Levin Intermediate have involved their fellow students, key members of staff and their local community in order to turn their dangerous playground into something that will be user-friendly and exciting to use. It looks like the students have plenty of great ideas. Levin Intermediate receives a cheque for $3,000.

And now to the secondary entries.

Another rewarding feature of this year’s competition has been the marked increase in the number of secondary school entries. Entrants in the Young Enterprise Scheme have been encouraged to submit entries into this Look Out for Each Other Competition and they have responded positively, taking the total secondary school entries to 20.

Third place goes to the Sportec Crew from Whangarei Boys’ High School. These students identified that the severity of sports injuries can be reduced if participants use effective padding as protection. They then went one step further by combining the padding with polypropylene thermals to make a product which keeps you warm and protected – all in one. These students have earned their school $1,000.

Next up, the second place getter in the secondary school category is the Bug’s Eye View group from Wellington East Girls’ College. Their novel approach to sunburn prevention will appeal to many New Zealanders, both young and old. Their school receives $2,000.

This year’s first place award goes to Geraldine High School. Students at Geraldine High School have had the confidence to address an issue that many find hard to tackle. They have identified that violence is a cause of unnecessary injuries and related trauma and that there is great value in reducing the level of violence within their school.

They applied a thorough approach to the challenge. First, they used reliable research and statistics to back up their rationale for undertaking the project. Next, they surveyed students to see what the issues are in their own community. This uncovered enough information for them to work out what needed to be done next. They then created an education kit and used it within the school. Finally, they carried out further research to identify the effects their efforts have had in the school. Through the final evaluation they identified that things had improved, which is fantastic. This project has been undertaken along the same lines as ACC-led injury prevention programmes.

Like our other first place getters, Geraldine High school will receive $3,000. They also receive the overall winner’s prize of $2,000.

It’s not only the prize winners who gain from the process that these schools and early childhood education centres have gone through. Students, staff and parents at all participating schools enjoy the increased level of safety generated by the exercise of taking part. Congratulations to you all.

Thank you.