We have supported initiatives with children to ensure that they learn about gas and the basics of gas safety, for the benefit of their families now and for themselves in the future.
Gas Safe Charity in partnership with Gas Safe Register, approached specialist education marketing agency, EdComs, to help it develop a presence in primary schools, in order to: raise awareness of how to stay safe with gas; the potential dangers of unsafe gas appliances; and carbon monoxide poisoning. We wanted to change the public’s behaviour to gas safety issues, and we wanted this programme to act as a channel in order to reach parents as well.
Our research identified that only 10% of primary teachers said that they taught about gas safety, even though 93% felt it was important and 56% thought it was very important. This gap is not an indication of apathy; it is an indication of a lack of confidence. When asked how confident they felt teaching about gas safety, just 6% said they felt very confident and 46% felt not very / not at all confident.
Teachers welcomed the idea of a Gas Safe education programme, with 84% of the primary teachers we spoke to interested in hearing about a Gas Safe programme.
A theatre in education workshop tour, Party at Perils’, was developed with Gas Safe Charity funding and rolled out across 90 primary schools, reaching over 7,000 young people. The play covered key learning objectives around gas safety in the home, with Errol Peril and his parents, Gerald and Cheryl, going through a journey of discovery as they move into a new house.
Alongside the live events, we built and launched the interactive Get Gas Safe website which provides all primary school teachers with materials to deliver a lesson in class about gas safety.
Get Gas Safe website
- Interactive house explains the gas infrastructure of a house;
- Films about the Perils to support classroom learning;
- ‘Spot the safety hazards’ game built into the interactive house;
- Gas safety checklist to take home and work through with parents; Information and leaflet for parents.
Party at Perils’ tour
- The tour visited over 100 schools in 29 geographic areas across the UK in 2015;
- 96% of pupils said they learnt something new from the show, and 87% of teachers corroborated this;
- 85% of pupils said they would tell their parents / family about what they had seen;
- 99% of teachers said they would recommend it to a colleague;
- Overall, teachers thought the show was well designed, very informative and age appropriate.
Lessons learned
- 95% learnt something new from the lesson;
- Awareness of carbon monoxide doubled from 44% before the lesson to 81% after the lesson;
- Awareness of key messaging improved – for example, awareness that carbon monoxide has no smell rose from 28% to 63%;
- Nearly half of the pupils who had a lesson using the website materials talked to their parents / carers about it, and a third completed the gas safety checklist at home.
Educational resources
For free educational resources for primary schools - curriculum-linked lesson plan, activity sheets, parent leaflet, stickers, spot the hazard challenge, gas safety quiz and Meet the Perils video downloads – click here.