Promoting Well Being

School Based Performances

The 'Alex and Connie Home Safety Puppet Show' was initially introduced to 12 schools in the Southern Education and Library Bard (SELB) area in February 2008.

The one-hour puppet show presented two hand held puppets, one male (Alex) and one female (Connie), who in turn, retold four stories to the children, each with a home safety theme. These included stories on:

• Falls (child falls down stairs)
• Fires (child plays with matches, no smoke alarm)
• Burns and scalds (child is scalded by hot water, unsupervised in the bathroom)
• Poisoning (child takes medicine found in a handbag)

The stories formed part of a puppet resource pack developed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and HAPNI (Home Accident Prevention Northern Ireland). During the performances, the audiences were also introduced to Safe Home For Me - a new online resource (www.safehome4me.com) designed to educate children aged 3-7 years about home safety. Children were also given home safety information to take home to their parents/carers.

Following the initial pilot and evaluation a further 24 performances were arranged across nursery/primary schools in the SELB area.

Puppet Training Workshops

Between November-December 2008 three half-day Puppet Training Workshops were held to train education staff, health staff and community/voluntary workers in the use of the Alex and Connie puppets. A total of 45 people all working with young children attended this training. Each trainee received a home safety pack including scripts, information leaflets on home safety as well as ideas for follow-on work.

Borrow Puppets

Six sets of the Alex and Connie puppets are now available to borrow from the Promoting Wellbeing Team in St Luke's Hospital for anyone interested in using the puppets to promote home safety with young children. To borrow a set of the Alex and Connie Puppets contact Janis Faloon, Library and Information Officer on Tel: 028 37412887.

Community Based Performances

Between November 2008 and March 2009, a further 34 performances of the Alex and Connie Home Safety Puppet Show have taken place in community based settings all with a Early Years remit. A report outlining the details of the school based performances is now available. The evaluation of the community based sessions is ongoing and a full report will be available in April 2009. 

 Further Information 

To learn more about the Puppet Training Workshops or Puppetshows contact Nina Daly, Accident Prevention Officer on Tel: 028 3834 4973.