The Get Firewise programme is a curriculum-based resource that gives children of primary and intermediate age the knowledge and behaviour they need to stay fire safe and escape from a burning building.
You can access videos, downloads and request physical resources for your school.
For Firewisekids go to the Kids and parents section - the kids activity for this has expired for this campaign, but kids can find more games and activities in this section.
Running a Get Firewise programme
The Get Firewise programme teaches children lifelong behaviours that will help them stay safe. It's been developed using best practice techniques for teaching safety information to young children.
The teachers' lesson plans provide a guide on how to deliver the programme. We recommend running Get Firewise as either a short-focus topic of learning over two to three weeks or as a major term topic.
There is a strong focus on literacy and the resources provided give children the opportunities to practise new fire-safe behaviours across a range of engaging activities like role-plays, drawings and story-telling.
There is also a take home component of the Get Firewise programme. This is designed to engage families and whānau on a voluntary basis.
A firefighter visit following the completion of the programme is a highlight and reinforces key learning outcomes. You may request a firefighter visit through your local station or contact form.
Assessment Activities:
Fire and Emergency New Zealand wants to show how behaviours of students and families are changing as a result of taking part in the Get Firewise and Māui-tinei-ahi programmes, specifically in relation to the three fire safety learning outcomes.
We aim to do this by capturing diagnostic and summative assessment data on each of the outcomes listed below – activities for each of these are provided. Teachers may choose to use one or more of the simple activities to assess their class against each outcome. You may choose to use the same or different activities for diagnostic and summative assessment.
The outcomes we are assessing on in these activities are:
- Students understand that fire can be dangerous.
- Students show they know how to prevent fires starting.
- Students show they know how to get themselves out of a burning building quickly and safely to a safe meeting place.
Other programmes
In addition to the Firewise programme, we also offer the following programmes for early childhood and kōhanga reo students:
- Get Out! Stay Out! for early childhood.
- E Puta! E Noho ki Waho! for kōhanga reo.
- Māui-tinei-ahi for year 1 and 2 (Māori-medium education).
The education resources in these programmes are designed to be delivered by teachers and kaiako. They can be supported by firefighters with a school visit and fire-safety presentation.
Currently there are no resources for Years 4 – 6. However, the Get Firewise resources can be adapted for year 3 – 6 students. For activities suitable for year 3 – 4 you are encouraged to look at the year 1 – 2 Get Firewise resources.