Government & Defence -  CORONER 

Teacher

BEWARE: There are real stories here that are about deaths that have come before a Coroner. You will need to know if these stories will effect your students.

Coroner calls for compulsory primary school swimming lessons following beach tragedy: What notice should be taken?

Primary Middle

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Intercultural Understanding

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy 

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy

Australian Curriculum General Capability: ICT Capability

Cooperative Learning Activity

1. Join with a partner and read the following report in the Herald Sun from June 2015

2. The report states that "Life Saving Victoria study that found about 60 per cent of children are leaving primary school without the ability to swim to basic standards."

You are to confirm this figure by conducting a survey at your school. Using Survey Monkey create a survey for both students, parents and your school community to undertake.

With a partner, think of the questions you would want answered so you can work out the statistics around swimmer capability at your school. Eg. one question you might ask is "How many students in Years 5 - Year 6 are confident and competent swimmers?" How will you judge this statement?

3. After you have worked out the number of students without the ability to swim to basic standards [you will also need to work out what those basic standards are!], you are to speak to the teachers and Principal of your school.

Here are some sample questions to ask:

• Should the swimming lessons be compulsory? Who would be exempt? Why? Why not?
• When will a swimming program be undertaken?
• Is it only feasible during Term 1 & 4? Why? Why not?
• Will the school pay for the swimming lessons or will the parents? Why? Why not?
• How much will it cost?
• How will the rest of the curriculum be covered?
• How much time will be spent at the pool? Is it enough time to build up competencies?
• Should students also learn CPR? How much extra time will this take? Is it worth it?

4. After finding out the answers to your questions about this recommendation from the Victorian Coroner, what do you think? Should there be compulsory primary school swimming lessons? Should this recommendation happen in all States and Territories? Why?

5. In a Social Media campaign of your choice, state whether you believe this is a good recommendation or not. Gather support for your point of view.

What have you done to get as many "likes" as possible?

Inquest Reports: the hidden costs

  Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy 

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Cooperative Learning Activity

1. Coroners write Inquests. These are reports about why deaths have occurred.

You are to examine the following Inquest Reports from the Coroner's Court of Western Australia: each inquest has an audio file as well as written up version.

Inquest into the Death of TPL (a child Subject to a Suppression Order)	Inquest into the Death of Sebastian Keith Parman
Inquest into the Death of Mahdi Arjomand	Inquest into the Death of Shayne Andrew Berry
Inquest into the Death of Aaron Genovese	Inquest into the Death of Andrew Sinclair Graham

2. These reports are devoid of emotion but they can tell us many things!

Write down the things you have learnt from each report. Share with a partner. Did you get a sense of the sadness of these incidents?

What were the Recommendations, if any? Do you think that agencies or governments will take notice of these recommendations?

 

3. You are a Court Reporter for the local TV news. Re-write one of these Coroner's Inquest Reports into a news story but be mindful of the grief of the families involved when you are retelling the story. Record your news report and share with the class. What do you think of the Recommendations?

With a partner, assess whether the other reports from your classmates covered all the facts. In your opinion, was this an interesting and sober account of the Inquest?

4. You are a relative of the person in the Inquest. You are to re-write the Inquest from the perspective of your feelings of loss. You might take note of the time lapse between the accident and the Inquest Report. Does the Inquest Report diminish or enflame your emotions? What do you think of the Recommendations?

 

 

 

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