Trusted Adults Help Us

Overview

Students identify what makes an adult trustworthy and practise respectful ways to seek help. Through picture prompts, scenario sorting, role-play and a private safety-network activity, students learn that they can keep telling until someone helps, without sharing personal experiences publicly.

Learning intentions

• Students will identify qualities of a trusted adult.
• Students will recognise that feelings can provide clues about safe, uncomfortable or unsafe situations.
• Students will practise asking for help respectfully and clearly.
• Students will identify people and places that can help them stay safe.

Success criteria

• I can describe a trusted adult as someone who listens, helps and keeps children safe.
• I can use the words, “I need help because…”
• I can explain that I can keep telling trusted adults until someone helps.
• I can privately record three people who could be part of my safety network.

Curriculum links

• Protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies: identifying trusted adults, safe places and ways to ask for assistance.
• Respectful relationships: using respectful language, listening and responding appropriately.
• Emotional responses: recognising that different situations can create different feelings and body clues.
• Western Australian Health and Physical Education: personal, social and community health learning for Years 1–2.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Mystery bag warm-up. Place picture clues in a “safe adults” mystery bag, such as a school hat, first-aid symbol, phone, library sign and hi-vis vest; reveal them one at a time using the mystery-bag picture prompts and ask, “How might this person or place help a child?” Students turn and talk, then contribute ideas without naming real adults.

Establish the right to pass and say: “We will talk about made-up examples today. You never need to tell the class a personal story.”

2. 7–15 min · Explicit teaching. Use the trusted-adult teaching slides to explain: “A trusted adult is a grown-up who listens, helps and keeps children safe.” Discuss possible trusted adults at school, home and in the community, including teachers, family members, carers, school staff and emergency helpers. Explain that a trusted adult does not ask children to keep unsafe secrets, and that unsafe secrets should be told to a trusted adult.

Teach the help-seeking sequence: notice a problem; move towards a safe place; tell a trusted adult clearly; keep telling another trusted adult until someone helps. Students practise saying the sequence with actions.

3. 15–23 min · Feelings and body clues. Show the three feeling symbols in the safe, uncomfortable and unsafe feelings slides. Explain that safe situations may feel calm or happy, uncomfortable situations may feel confusing or “not quite right”, and unsafe situations may feel frightened, worried, trapped or hurt. Feelings and body clues can be helpful signals, but people may respond differently.

Students silently show a hand signal for a calm, unsure or worried response to teacher-created examples. Do not ask students to explain personal experiences. Reinforce that an uncomfortable feeling is enough reason to move away and seek help.

4. 23–31 min · Scenario sorting. In groups of four or five, students sort teacher-prepared picture or sentence cards into “safe”, “uncomfortable—get help” and “unsafe—get help now”. Display the directions with the scenario-sorting instructions. Suggested scenarios include: a friend invites you into a game; an adult asks you to keep a worrying secret; you get lost at a community event; someone online asks for your name and school; a classmate is hurt; and someone ignores your “no”.

Students explain their group’s choice using, “We think this belongs here because…” Discuss that some situations may feel different to different people, and all requests for help should be listened to respectfully.

5. 31–38 min · Help-seeking role-play. Model a short example with a student volunteer or puppet: “I need help because I am lost. Please stay with me.” Model the assertive voice, clear words, facing the helper and moving to a safe place. Use the role-play script slide showing: “I need help because…” and “Please help me.”

Pairs rehearse fictional scenarios, such as losing a bag, seeing a friend upset, receiving an unwanted online message or feeling unsafe near the playground. One student is the help-seeker and one is the trusted adult, then swap roles. Students may practise with a puppet or teacher instead. Remind them: if the first adult cannot help, tell another trusted adult and keep telling until someone helps.

6. 38–43 min · Private safety network. Distribute the private three-person safety-network handprint. Students draw or write three possible trusted adults or safe helpers in the fingers, and add one safe place or help-seeking sentence in the palm. They do not need to write names they cannot spell and must not share their sheet aloud. Students may use roles or places, such as “my teacher”, “a carer”, “the front office” or “a police officer”.

Quietly check that each student can identify at least one safe helper. If a student cannot, provide individual support after the lesson.

7. 43–45 min · Calm closing. Use the calm closing slide for slow breathing and a final class response: “If a problem is too big, I can ask for help.” Students complete the sentence privately or to a partner: “One way I can seek help is…” Collect worksheets only if students are comfortable; otherwise they may take them home.

Resources

• the trusted adults and help-seeking slide deck
• the private three-person safety-network handprint
• Mystery bag
• Safe-adult and safe-place picture clues
• Teacher-prepared scenario cards
• Three feeling symbols: safe, uncomfortable and unsafe
• Puppets or soft toys for role-play
• Pencils, crayons and clipboards

Assessment

• Listen during the warm-up and sorting task for accurate identification of adults who listen, help and keep children safe.
• Observe role-play for clear, respectful use of “I need help because…” and understanding that students can tell another adult if the first person does not help.
• Check the private network activity for three possible helpers or safe places; use a quiet individual conference where support is needed.

Differentiation

• Provide picture symbols, gestures, repeated modelling and sentence starters: “I feel…”, “I need help because…” and “Please help me.” Allow students to point, draw or use a puppet instead of speaking.
• Pre-teach key words and pair EAL/D students with a supportive peer; accept home-language discussion where appropriate.
• Offer extension through a new fictional scenario: students decide which safe place to go to and how they would respectfully help a friend.
• Safeguarding: never ask students to disclose experiences, identify real adults publicly or role-play abuse, threats or inappropriate touch. Avoid language about keeping secrets from safe adults; explicitly state that unsafe secrets must be told. Follow school procedures immediately if a student makes a disclosure, and do not promise confidentiality.