Climate Schools provides online health education courses which aim to empower students to gain knowledge about their health and wellbeing. This knowledge will assist them in making good choices and learning about ways to avoid drug-related harm and to optimise their physical and mental health.

Each Climate Schools course addresses a particular topic, e.g. stress management or drug education. The courses are designed to be easily implemented across one school term and are made up of 6 core lessons. These lessons are designed to be supplemented with additional activities which teachers can access online via the Climate Schools Teachers’ Club.

All Climate Schools drug prevention courses are founded on evidence-based research, adopt a harm-minimisation approach to prevention, and are embedded within the school health curriculum. The core content of the courses are delivered over the internet using novel cartoon storylines to engage students. Internet delivery enables each student to work at their own pace through the courses.

There are two Climate Schools courses which focus on the use of cannabis and related harms.

These are the:

• Climate Schools: Cannabis and Alcohol module — designed for Year 8 – 9 students
• Climate Schools: Psychostimulants and Cannabis module — designed for Year 10 students

Both of these courses have been trialled in schools and have been found to be effective in increasing cannabis knowledge, as well as reducing use and related harms. For more information on the evaluation of these programs please click here.

Climate Schools is the work of researchers and practitioners from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) and the Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression (CRUfAD) at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. Both centres are affiliated with the University of New South Wales.

To find out more about the Climate Schools courses, click here.