Climate Schools
Climate Schools is the most innovative and engaging way to empower students to
gain knowledge about their health and wellbeing. Aiming to change and reinvigorate the school
climate around alcohol and other drug education, our modules provide curriculum-consistent health
education courses proven to reduce harm and improve student well-being. By implementing these
user-friendly evidence-based programs you will assist your students in making positive and
informed choices for life.
COVID-19 response: Full program now free for Australian schools
As a show of support for the challenges that school staff, parents and young people are facing during this COVID-19 pandemic,
we are offering schools FREE access to the Climate Schools program.
- If your school already has an active paid subscription, the subscription expiry date will be extended to account
for this complimentary period (no action is required).
- If you have an existing free trial account, you can login and upgrade your account to a free full access account.
- If you are new to Climate Schools, you can register your school for a free full access account here.
Prior to registering your school, you can preview the Climate Schools course
material. You can view a section of the cartoons for the
Alcohol module, Alcohol & Cannabis module, and Psychostimulant & Cannabis module. These interactive student lessons will provide a preview before your school registers for full access to the Climate Schools programs.
NEW for 2020: Mental Health Module
Mental health is consistently cited as the most important issue to Australian young people.
Over the past four years, researchers at the University of Sydney, UNSW, Curtin University and QUT have been completing a rigorous trial of the
new Climate Schools Mental Health Module, which provides internet-based prevention education for anxiety
and depression in adolescents. The trial is now complete, with results showing that students who received
the module had increased mental health-related knowledge as well as a slower progression in anxiety symptoms over 24-months.
Developed in collaboration with students and experts in mental health and education, the cartoon storylines impart
strengths-based education to empower students to develop personal, behavioural, social and cognitive skills.
The Mental Health Module is mapped to the Australian and state-based HPE/PDHPE curriculums. It is recommended for students in years 9 or 10 and to be delivered simultaneously
with the Alcohol & Cannabis module.
Who is behind Climate Schools?
Climate Schools was developed by researchers formerly based at the National Drug and Alcohol Research
Centre (NDARC), School of Psychiatry, and the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use
at UNSW Sydney,
and currently based at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of
Sydney, Australia. The University of New South Wales contributed to the creation of the Licenced IP (or part thereof) and
its transfer at no cost for use in the economy and society.
Course Benefits
Our research shows that Climate Schools programs improve student outcomes by:
- Reducing alcohol consumption
- Reducing binge drinking
- Reducing cannabis use
- Reducing ecstasy use
- Slowing the progression of anxiety symptoms
- Reducing psychological distress
- Reducing harms related to the use of alcohol and ecstasy
- Reducing intentions to use ecstasy and psychostimulants
- Increasing knowledge about mental health, alcohol and cannabis
- Improving attitudes towards alcohol
Access to the courses
Climate Schools can be accessed over the internet by teachers and their students. All of the Climate Schools courses address
health and personal development syllabus outcomes, especially those concerned with mental health and wellbeing.
All of the courses require enrolment keys to access them. To obtain an enrolment key teachers need to register their school.