Stay Safe Tracks

Overview

Year Level: Year 7
Learning Area: Health and Physical Education
Lesson Duration: 45 minutes
Class Size: 2 students
Unit Title: Safe Choices in Health
Lesson Title: Staying Safe Around Railway Tracks
Australian Curriculum Link:

• Personal, Social and Community Health – Year 7–8
  • ACPPS072: Investigate and select strategies to promote health, safety and wellbeing
  • ACPPS073: Practise and apply strategies to seek help for themselves or others
  • ACPPS077: Plan and implement strategies for connecting to natural and built environments to promote the health and wellbeing of their communities

---

Lesson Description

In this engaging introductory lesson, students will explore railway safety in everyday life, particularly in relation to physical movement near tracks and stations. Through scenario role-play, evidence-based discussion, and creative activities, students will develop awareness about how their behaviour impacts their personal safety and the safety of others when near railway environments.

Students will also begin designing a public awareness poster to promote safe behaviours around railways. The small group size offers a brilliant opportunity for deep reflection, personalised exploration, and mature conversation.

---

Learning Intentions

By the end of the lesson, students will:

• Understand key safety protocols when near railway tracks and platforms.
• Identify unsafe behaviours and their potential consequences in railway environments.
• Begin constructing a safety message targeted at their peers as part of a visual campaign.

---

Success Criteria

Students will:

• Actively participate in group discussion and reflect on railway safety scenarios.
• Correctly identify and explain 3+ safe railway behaviours.
• Create an informative draft idea for a railway safety poster promoting safe actions.

---

Resources Required

• Visuals of local Australian railway stations and tracks (printed or digital)
• Printed ‘Rail Risk’ scenario cards (see below in Appendix)
• Butcher's paper, coloured markers
• Sticky notes
• Railway Safety Poster Planning Template (A3)
• Whiteboard & markers
• Lanyards or props (optional) for mini role-plays
• Access to local train safety statistics or campaign slogans (e.g. “Stand Back. Look Up. Stay Safe.” used by Sydney Trains)

---

Lesson Sequence

1. Welcome and Warm-Up (5 minutes)

Activity: "In Their Shoes"

• Ask students: “When was the last time you were near a railway station or tracks?” Encourage sharing for 1-2 minutes each. Prompt with questions:
  • What do you remember seeing?
  • Were there people doing anything unsafe?
  • How did that make you feel?

Purpose: Activates prior knowledge and personal connection. Sets an open, reflective tone.

---

2. Whole-Class Discussion (10 minutes)

Activity: What’s Safe? What’s Risky?
Use the whiteboard to create a T-Chart: Safe and Risky.
Students brainstorm actions/behaviours seen or observed near tracks. Write them on sticky notes and sort together.

Prompts:

• Running across tracks late?
• Wearing headphones near a train?
• Standing behind the yellow line?

Tie back to real consequences – use statistics if available (e.g. “Every year, young people are injured or killed due to careless behaviour near railways”).

Extension Question: How can peer pressure play a role in these risky decisions?

---

3. Scenario Role Play (15 minutes)

Activity: Rail Risk Role Cards
Create 3-4 realistic Australian-based railway scenarios for students to act out in pairs. One reads, the other acts/reacts. (Examples in Appendix)

After each role-play, pause and analyse:

• What risk behaviour appears here?
• What would be a safer choice?
• Could this choice affect others—how?

Encourage students to ‘replay’ each scenario, showing the safer option.

---

4. Launch Poster Project (10 minutes)

Activity: Safety Poster Planning
Distribute Railway Safety Poster Planning Template.

Instructions:

• The poster must promote a safe behaviour around railway tracks.
• Must be attention-grabbing and suitable for teen peers.
• Include a slogan, an image idea, and a simple message.

Students sketch or write their initial ideas, discussing and refining them with each other. Teacher circulates to facilitate conversation and scaffold design decisions.

---

5. Exit Ticket and Reflection (5 minutes)

Activity: Sticky-Note Exit Ticket
Students each write:

1. One risky thing they’ll now avoid near trains.
2. One idea they’re excited about for their poster.

Sticky notes go on the classroom door as they leave.

---

Differentiation / Extension

Small Group Advantage:

• Enables detailed questioning and scaffolding
• Role-plays can be adapted to student confidence level
• Posters can be digitised in later lessons for tech extension

---

Assessment (Formative)

• Teacher observations during discussions and role-plays
• Review of students’ poster draft ideas and language choices
• Sticky note reflections for misconception tracking

---

Cross-Curricular Links

• English: Crafting persuasive language for posters
• Visual Arts: Designing visual communication elements
• Civics & Citizenship: Understanding public safety and responsibility

---

Next Lesson Preview

Lesson 2 Title: Safe Choices in Sport
Students will explore how making safe decisions during team and solo physical activities can reduce their own and others’ risk of injury, with links to group responsibility and decision-making under pressure.

---

Appendix

Sample ‘Rail Risk’ Role Cards

1. Scenario: You and a friend are trying to catch a train and it's arriving. Your friend suggests you duck under the closing boom gates.

   • Discussion: What could happen next? A safer choice?

2. Scenario: Two people are on the platform, one is taking a selfie for social media near the edge with their back to the tracks.

   • Challenge: Act out the situation. Rewrite the story with a safer outcome.

3. Scenario: A person has loud headphones on and doesn't notice an incoming train announcement.

   • Prompt: How do distractions like headphones or mobile phones reduce situational awareness?

---

Teacher Reflection (Post-Lesson Prompts)

• Which scenarios sparked the most conversation?
• Did any misconceptions arise that need to be addressed in future lessons?
• How can I use the students’ poster ideas to shape lesson 2?

---

This Australian railway safety lesson is built to empower Year 7 students with real-world knowledge and creative expression, ensuring they not only know how to stay safe—but feel confident encouraging peers to do the same.