Get Firewise for year 1 and 2 is a sequenced programme of activities designed to give five and six year olds knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that will keep them safe around fire

The students learn behaviours that will keep them from starting fires, such as not playing with matches and lighters. They learn and practise what to do if there is a fire in a building or room they are in.

Get Firewise provides a free book and DVD for families and whanau to encourage them to learn and practise behaviours that will keep them safe from fire.

It focuses on:

• not playing with matches and lighters
• being safe near fires
• understanding that fire can be dangerous
• knowing what to do if there is a fire in a room
• practising evacuating from a room in a fire emergency.

The programme has an additional section where students learn and practise calling 111 in an emergency.

Get Firewise can be taught as a short term topic using litercay and topic time over two or three weeks or it can be used as a whole term topic with sections approached with an inquiry learning approach.

Go to the Firewise Live page, and view Using Get Firewise as a short topic and Using Get Firewise as a term topic to see how schools have used the programme.

The Get Firewise programme can be supported by a visit from a Firewise coordinator or local firefighters. They deliver a 30 to 40 minute presentation that reinforces the safety messages your students have learnt.

The programme is cross-curricula. It reflects the intent of the New Zealand Curriculum (2007) and has a strong literacy component.

The Get Firewise resource has an A3 picture book Tamati and Sam Get Firewise that is also provided as a digital story you can use with an interactive whiteboard or a computer and LCD projector.