Using art to support primary school aged students at school

Asthma Australia worked with primary school students in Western Sydney from Culturally and Linguistically diverse backgrounds at Granville East Public school to develop a resource to support their peers living with asthma at school. The project was informed by previous work in the region and was funded by NSW Health.  

Asthma is a growing issue with kids in Western Sydney. Thirteen per cent were living with asthma in 2018-19 and there has been a steady increase in childhood asthma in the region since 2016. Between 2016-17 the asthma rate was 5.1 per cent, in 2017-2018 it grew to 10.5 per cent and in 2018-19 increased to 13 per cent. (1) 

We partnered with arts worker and creative producer Claudia Chidiac Makdessi and delivered four workshops with students from Grades 3 to 6 to trial and review four art related activities to explore and re-frame the challenges kids with asthma face. These activities focused on the role of asthma medications in supporting kids to better manage their asthma, the associated stigma and bullying with asthma symptoms and medication and the impact asthma has on kids missing out on sport and play.  

Insights from these workshops and feedback from school staff formed the development of the Asthma Art Attack e-book which includes lesson plans on how to deliver four art activities for students in grades 3-6. These activities include:

• Making a model of an asthma puffer and spacer  

• Creating an asthma support banner  

• A mixed media poster focusing on inclusion 

• An asthma management role play activity  

These activities have been aligned to the NSW curriculum where school staff deliver the lessons within their classrooms. The lessons can be delivered in 1-2 hours depending on the activity.  

Asthma Australia invites schools in Western and South-Western Sydney to register their interest to trial one of the activities in their classrooms in Term 4 2024 or Term 1 2025. You can register your interest via email schools@asthma.org.au with the subject Asthma Art Attack Trial and include your name, name of the school and grade of the classroom interested. 

Once local trials have been implemented Asthma Australia aims to promote the resource more broadly.  

References

(1) Health Stats. (2022). Asthma Prevalence in Children. Retrieved from Health Stats NSW: HealthStats NSW – Asthma prevalence in children