A single map of the child's sun-safe journey from birth to the end of primary school. The child journey is the spine. Educators sit underneath as the people who facilitate the outcome inside the setting; carers sit below them as people who learn alongside and reinforce at home. Between every stage, a transition column names what's being carried forward across all three lanes, and what's at risk if the next stage doesn't catch it.
"I love my hat and my sunblock. The adults around me do too. It's just what we do."
Where they're at. Babies and toddlers don't understand sun safety; they experience it. Habits form through the behaviour of trusted adults, repetition and the rhythm of the day. Story, song and physical routine are the primary learning modes. Skin barrier isn't fully mature until age four. Protection here is a clinical need, not just a habit being formed.
FragilityThe whole pattern is held by adults. If the model breaks (turnover in the room, an inconsistent home routine, a parent who hasn't had sun safety education themselves), the child has no internal compass to fall back on yet.
A child who has habits but no language for them. Sun safety is "what we do," not yet "what I do."
At riskWithout consistent cues in the new setting, the habits go quiet. The child can't yet explain or maintain them on their own.
"I bring my SunSmart habits into big school. I notice when someone isn't being sun safe."
Where they're at. Children in their first years of formal schooling. Beginning to name things, recognise patterns and follow rules independently when prompts are clear. Adult-directed but starting to build language for what they're doing. "Sun safe" versus "not sun safe" works as a category at this age. Play-based and story-led learning still works best; isolated one-off lessons don't land.
FragilityThe transition itself is the risk. The structures of ECEC (daily handover, rhythm, parent contact at pickup) disappear in school. The child is now in a much larger group with a teacher who has many other priorities.
A child ready to ask why. They can name sun safety behaviours and want to understand what's behind them.
At riskCuriosity meets generic content and hardens into compliance. The "why" moment is missed, and the suite has nothing for it.
"I know what UV does to my skin. I'm sun safe because I get it, not because someone told me to."
Where they're at. Children aged 6 to 8, developing the capacity to understand why, not just what. Curious about how the world works. Motivated by simple science and concrete cause and effect. Cross-curricular connections open up here: UV is science, climate is geography, healthy bodies sit in PDHPE. The NSW UV dosimeter pilot produced significant knowledge gains at this age.
FragilityThe current resource suite has nothing for this moment. Children arrive curious and ready to understand, and find generic posters and rules-based content designed for a younger or older audience.
A child who understands UV and skin and is about to face peer pressure, sleepovers and unstructured weekends.
At riskWithout scenario-based practice, understanding doesn't translate to choice in real situations. The hat comes off at the friend's house.
"I can be sun safe at sport, at a friend's house, on a cloudy day. I make the call."
Where they're at. Children aged 8 to 10. Can apply knowledge in new situations: sports carnival, beach trip, an unexpected sunny day. Peer influence starts to shape behaviour. Decision-making capacity is growing. They want to be treated as capable, not babied. Respond to scenarios, role-play and "what would you do" framings.
FragilityThis is where peer pressure starts winning. The classroom no longer has full visibility. Sport, OOSH, weekends and sleepovers all sit outside the school's reach. If the resource design doesn't extend into off-school contexts, the practice fragments.
A child who can choose for themselves. Hasn't yet had to lead, advocate or teach others.
At riskThe leadership opportunity is missed. They go into secondary as competent practitioners, not advocates. Competence alone doesn't survive the next transition.
"I own how I play in the sun, and I help younger kids and my mates work it out too."
Where they're at. Children aged 10 to 12. Capable of critical thinking about health behaviours. Wanting to make a difference. Designing things, mentoring younger students, running campaigns. The last stage where sun safety is structurally supported by the school, and the most underused leadership lever in the current suite.
FragilityPeer norms are already shifting. The pull of high school, identity and appearance is real and close. What gets handed over here, in confidence and language, is what either survives or evaporates by Year 8.
A child ready to lead, identity around sun safety just forming. Going into a setting where peer norms and appearance dominate.
At riskSun safety becomes the cringe thing primary school did. Practice atrophies inside 12 months. This is the critical vulnerability the evidence keeps naming.
"I can model it, sing it, weave it through our day. What I need is something to hand a new staff member next Tuesday. Half my team won't be here next year."
Needs. Stories, songs and sensory activities that fold into the existing rhythm. Plain-English NQS-compliance guidance, not paperwork. Something to hand parents at pickup. Multilingual and AUSLAN options. Two-minute PD videos that survive a 15-minute team meeting.
BarrierHigh staff turnover; knowledge walks out the door. Workload pressure is real: physical, emotional and financial. Many overseas-trained educators haven't had sun safety education themselves. Email push gets 71–78% engagement, the strongest channel in the suite, and underused.
An ECEC educator handing off habits built through daily contact and pickup conversations. A K teacher with no equivalent infrastructure.
At riskThe continuity ECEC provided isn't replicable in school. If the school doesn't replace it with something (termly cues, transition resources, a Week 1 routine card), the practice dilutes.
"I want it in PDHPE this term. But I'm choosing between climate, road safety and food groups. Drop me a Week 4 lesson and I'll run it."
Needs. Lesson plans mapped to NSW syllabus outcomes, so sun safety justifies its place in the planner. Stage-specific activities ready to use this week. Cues and routines designed for the ECEC-to-school transition. Plain link to the School Excellence Framework so principals can see it.
BarrierCrowded curriculum. "Sun safety feels solved." 24% of members don't know the resource library exists. The Primary Schools page gets 4× fewer views than ECEC. Demand exists, but the suite hasn't met it.
An ES1 teacher who's used what was available; a Stage 1 teacher facing 6-year-olds asking why with no resource for the answer.
At riskThe teacher prints down from Stage 3 and waters it down, or improvises. Stage-specific design doesn't develop. The most-cited gap in the suite stays unfilled.
"There's nothing for me. I print the Stage 3 stuff and water it down, or I find someone else's lesson plan online."
Needs. Hands-on, age-appropriate UV science. The NSW pilot using UV dosimeters showed significant knowledge gains. Curriculum-mapped sequences across PDHPE, science, geography and the arts. Resources that move children from rules to reasons. Activities that build understanding, not compliance.
BarrierAlmost nothing exists. The suite jumps from ECEC storybooks to Stage 3 Student Champions with nothing in between. The most consistently identified gap across every piece of evidence, and the most urgent fill in the roadmap.
A Stage 1 teacher who's built understanding (where resources allow); a Stage 2 teacher needing to teach decision-making.
At riskPosters and rules don't work for this age. The teacher needs scenario-based content the suite doesn't provide. Children get rules-based content they've outgrown.
"They're not babies anymore. Posters bounce off them. Give me something with a decision in it: peer pressure, the cloudy day, the friend's place."
Needs. Scenario- and decision-based activities: role-play, "what would you do." Peer-aware framing that designs for peer dynamics, not against them. Cross-curricular work using data, simple science, applied learning. Material that treats children as capable, not as little kids.
BarrierGeneric posters bounce off this age group. No scenario- or decision-based resources designed for this stage. The shift from rules to choices isn't supported anywhere in the current suite.
A Stage 2 teacher who's built decision-making; a Stage 3 teacher needing student-led, peer-education content.
At riskStudent Champions toolkit components average four downloads each. The format isn't working. The leadership stage stays underdeveloped just as it matters most.
"Five PDFs in a toolkit nobody finishes. Give me one thing my cohort can actually run with, and something to send them into Year 7 with."
Needs. Student-led, campaign-style formats. The YES-CAN! evidence supports peer education at this age. Material that prepares Stage 3 children for the secondary transition. PD that gives teachers permission to step back. Connections to wellbeing, identity and community themes, not just health reminders.
BarrierStudent Champions toolkit is downloaded but the component documents average only four each. The format isn't working. Nothing in the current suite prepares Stage 3 students for the structural collapse of Stage 4.
A primary teacher who's done their part. A secondary specialist with no syllabus home for sun safety, no resources designed for them, no continuity from the primary suite.
At riskThe professional handover doesn't happen. Secondary teachers receive nothing actionable. The Blueprint's scope ends here. The brief for what comes next begins here.
"I trust the centre. They send things home in the bag. I couldn't tell you what SunSmart actually is. Just that they do it."
Needs. Short, actionable info that fits a busy morning. Why sun safety matters now, not only long-term cancer risk. Practical tips for the school bag, the pram, the weekend. First-language resources for CALD families. Newborn- and toddler-specific guidance (current gap).
BarrierDon't browse the SunSmart site. They receive what services send home. 83% of parents think sun safety should be a high priority but most don't know their service's SunSmart status. Resources need to survive the journey home in a school bag.
A parent who relied on the centre's daily reinforcement and pickup conversations. The day school starts, that handover is gone.
At riskWithout a substitute (a school newsletter, a take-home cue, a Week 1 sun safety message), the parent stops being part of the practice.
"The hat thing carried over fine. But what they're being taught now, that's gone quiet."
Needs. Reassurance that the habits built in ECEC will hold. Help reinforcing routines on a school morning. Plain-language "why" answers for the questions kids start asking. Recognition that the school transition is itself a vulnerability moment.
BarrierLost the daily handover ECEC provided. Don't know their school is a SunSmart member. "This generation is already protected" is widely believed and quietly wrong. Anticipated regret is the lever, but only if the message lands at the right time.
A parent fielding "why" questions they weren't prepared for. They don't know what the school is teaching, so they can't reinforce it.
At riskHome and school stop reinforcing each other. The parent's answers and the school's lessons drift apart. The child is hearing two stories.
"She's started asking why. I'm winging the answer. Something that matched what she's learning at school would be a relief."
Needs. Things to talk about at home that match what the child is learning at school. Confidence to answer the "why" questions: UV, skin, why a cloudy day still counts. A stage-specific "what your Stage 1 child should know" guide.
BarrierNo connection between school content and home conversation. Nothing exists for this dialogue moment. The adolescent melanoma stat triggers concern but offers no pathway to act today.
A parent whose visibility into their child's life is starting to drop. Friends' houses, sport, OOSH, school holidays.
At riskNo tools for the off-school setting. Temperature still the proxy for UV. Practice fragments at the edges where the parent can't see.
"He's at his mate's house this weekend. I'm hoping the habit holds, and I have no way to check."
Needs. Help backing their child's emerging decisions. Guidance on when to lean in and when to lean out. Tools for the off-school setting: the beach, the carnival, the friend's place, the Saturday sport. Recognition that visibility is dropping just as peer pressure is rising.
BarrierNo tools for the off-school setting. Temperature is still the proxy for UV. Protection drops on cool, cloudy days. The current parent suite is generic and doesn't speak to this stage.
A parent whose child is beginning to lead conversations they used to lead. Pride mixed with quiet anxiety about what's coming.
At riskThe parent feels redundant rather than supportive. Nothing prepares them for the transition to high school. They need to start preparing now, not at Year 7.
"She's leading the conversations I used to have with her. The question is whether that survives high school."
Needs. Honest prep for the secondary transition: what's coming, what to brace for, how to keep the conversation alive. Confidence the practice will survive the move. Ways to keep sun safety present once the school stops sending cues home.
BarrierLong-term cancer framing creates concern but no urgency. Nothing in the suite prepares parents for the transition. Once Year 7 starts, the school's reinforcement infrastructure largely disappears.
A parent who's been reinforced by school for seven years. About to lose that scaffolding entirely.
At riskThe school stops sending cues. The reinforcement infrastructure disappears. Without an alternative (GP, sports club, social channel), home practice atrophies.