Simon Board (SB): Kambala’s ‘Sun Safety Ambassadors’ program is changing the way that students engage in sun safety education at schools. The program began when, I wrote the Sun and UV at School Schools resource with the Cancer Institute. We realised when I started teaching at Kambala, this resource wasn’t being used to its full potential. I had been speaking with Dr Philip Tong (dermatologist from Dermscreen – a collective of dermatologists, working to advocate for sun safety and skin health), for a few years, discussing ways that we could broaden the reach of the syllabus documentation. Further inspiration came when I taught Sophie, our head prefect, and she mentioned her passion for sun safety. We began planning the development of a student leadership group to help us plan the workshops and other initiatives. This led to the development of the Kambala Workshop, followed by the Inner Sydney High Workshop. This program has been filling an important need for students, as our kids have all been talking about tan lines, and are obsessed with skin care routines, even from Year 5!
Sophia Alexander (SA): Over the holidays, I was interviewed by Eliza Barre from The Daily Telegraph for an article titled Slip, Slop, Silly, which explored the dangers of tanning in the context of social media and prevailing beauty standards. This platform allowed me to articulate the significant risks associated with UV exposure and highlight the proactive measures we have implemented at Kambala to foster a culture of sun safety among students. These measures have included sunscreen dispensers available to students, the design of broad brimmed hats and further work to ensure that sun safety education is accessible through the curriculum.
Source: Daily Telegraph
SB: The sunscreen dispensers came about as we formed a relationship with SC JOHNSON, a fabulous company who produce high-quality sunscreen and dispenser options. At present, I am in the process of writing updated programs for the new PDHPE syllabus and setting up an online platform to promote access for schools. These programs are intended to be updated as trends and technologies change. The best aspect of this program has been our student leadership group.
Student feedback and consultation has been integral in giving us engaging workshop content that is from the student’s perspective, so therefore more likely to hit the mark.
SA: As part of the ongoing expansion of this initiative, I will be meeting next weekwith Allegra Spender, our local Member of Parliament, to discuss strategies for enhancing public awareness and education surrounding UV-related health risks, particularly among young women. A key focus of this discussion will be advocating for the integration of comprehensive sun safety education into high school curricula, and securing funding for targeted social media campaigns that challenge harmful beauty norms and promote evidence-based skin protection practices.
Further institutional engagement is also underway, with Mr Board, Head of PDHPE scheduled to meet with Catherine Thomson, Director of Curriculum Implementation at NESA, to evaluate the outcomes of Kambala’s sun safety program.
Additionally, we are preparing to launch a Stage 3 initiative tailored for our Year 5 and 6 girls! This program will feature Kirstie Fitzpatrick, a skin cancer survivor and reporter for the 7 Network, who will deliver a seminar on the intersection of skin care and self-esteem. The initiative is designed as a pastoral care program that not only educates students on the physiological effects of UV exposure but also examines the psychological and social dimensions of self-perception in relation to skin health. This program will be a foundational step in equipping our younger students with lifelong sun protection habits.
Kristie Fitzpatrick – sun safety ambassador, and news and weather reporter for 7 Network
SB: Kirstie Fitzpatrick is a journalist and television presenter who currently works as a weather presenter for the 7 Network and has a background in radio and digital journalism.
At just 19 she was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer requiring surgery and lymph node removal. Since then, Kirstie has had at least 15 surgeries for atypical lesions. She is passionate about skin health, sun safety, and spreading the word about skin cancer. In 2023, Kristie completed her Associate Degree in Applied Health Science (Dermal Therapies) to better understand the language doctors use when speaking with patients and bridge the gap between technical terms and a potentially scary diagnosis. For us she is an outstanding speaker and sun safety advocate, passionate about primary education in terms of skin cancer. For the Year 6 students she will be a positive, professional and inspirational role model that connects with her audience and presents in such an impactful and authentic way.
SA: Next week also marks the final phase of our research collaboration with Charles Sturt University, in which we are conducting a study to assess the effectiveness of structured workshops and curriculum integration in improving high school students' understanding of sun safety. The research question guiding this study is: Can dedicated workshops and associated syllabus implementation enhance high school students’ knowledge and awareness of skin care and UV protection? Upon completion, we aim to publish our findings in a research paper by late 2025, contributing valuable insights to the broader discourse on adolescent health education.
A critical component of this initiative has been the involvement of our student leadership group, whose contributions have been instrumental in shaping the program’s direction. Through ongoing consultation, student representatives have influenced key amendments to workshop content and broader policy decisions regarding sun safety measures within the school. Their advocacy has already led to
the installation of two sunscreen dispensers on the oval, and they are currently finalising the design of a broad-brimmed hat for girls to wear during PDHPE and sports classes.
SB: The most powerful way we have encouraged student take-up is through using a student leadership approach. Student have selected the hats from Solbari, modelled them during lunchtime and shared with their peers. Since the workshop with Year 8, student leaders have been challenging attitudes when at the beach and have seen a definite change in peer willingness to apply and re-apply sunscreen. We used Anne Gately’s Sunburn book as a text to reflect the syllabus, and this was very effective. Social media is certainly a tough challenge, but I think young people are starting to see through the facade of glamour and extreme vanity, and are looking for more evidence to support actions to protect their skin. Recently, after the workshop, we asked girls if they were more likely to seek advice from a medical professional and significantly more (than prior to the workshop) answered yes, which is a step in the right direction.
SA: The success of our program so far underscores the importance of student agency in driving meaningful change, ensuring that sun safety education remains both relevant and impactful within the Kambala community. We are starting to broaden the reach of our program as well. In Term 2, we are running a 6-week syllabus program, and 2-hour sun safety workshop at MLC Burwood, where one hundred Year 5 students will receive important education about skin health at a critical age.
SB: This work is vital because the new syllabus, from 2027, for 7-10 PDHPE hasn’t mandated any education in regard to sun safety. This is, and will be, as we face global warming, and social media pressures, a hugely critical issue. We need students to be getting quality preventative education in this space. We are in the process of setting up a platform to distribute the educational resources to support K-12, including a bespoke year group workshop and pastoral program run by Kirstie Fitzpatrick. You can see more information about this platform https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fbzNMJzaW4fXqUt7nLiONNfYJfLuD9Bb/view?usp=sharing My generation is now experiencing the impact of a lack of education on skin and sun safety through the development of a variety of skin cancers from melanomas, basal- cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas. Our responsibility is to ensure the next generation is given the primary preventative education to enhance their future health outcomes. The challenge is significant, no doubt, but unless we take steps to increase education in this space, update our ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’ message which is well outdated, and commit to increasing the ‘sun smart’ behaviours in our schools and broader community, skin cancer is likely to climb to be a burden of disease with an impact well beyond what we should allow it to be. As PDHPE teachers, we play animportant role in ensuring this doesn’t happen.
