Background
Smoke Free Carlow was launched in 1999. The original model of the Smoke Free Leitrim project, run by the North Western Health Board since 1996, was adopted for replication in Carlow by the South Eastern Health Board. Project materials have also been adopted and have received a positive reaction in Schools.
Profile of County Carlow
Carlow is the smallest inland county in Ireland and is traditionally associated with agriculture and agriculture related industry. Recent years have seen the establishment of engineering related industries in Carlow town. In all there are 40 primary schools in the county with 626 pupils in fourth class. The number of fourth class pupils in schools throughout the county varies greatly from one pupil to sixty pupils.
Progress to Date
In June 2000, year one of the project was completed, the main achievements of the year were the following:
Recruitment of all of the primary schools in the county for the project.
Recruitment of the schools commenced in April 1999, this involved briefing sessions firstly for the principals of the schools and then for the fourth class teachers. Of the 40 primary schools, 38 were eligible to participate in the project, one school had no fourth class pupils, and the other was junior school. Overall the teachers were very enthusiastic about the project.
A Baseline Survey was carried out with all fourth class pupils which looked at:
- levels of and attitudes to smoking
- knowledge about the effects of smoking
- relationship between knowledge and behaviour
- levels of participation in sporting activities
The aim of this survey was to establish baseline information from the children prior to the launch and implementation for the project.
Project Patron
The popular radio and T. V. presenter Mr. Ray D'arcy agreed to be patron to the project. The project was lauched on the 13th of March 1999 by its patron. There are 626 'smoke free Carlow kids'.
Comments on Year 1
The response to the project has been very positive. The teachers found the resources to be very child friendly and easy to use, though some of the lessons were time consuming. Generally they generated a lot of discussion within the classroom. The children found the lessons very enjoyable, some liking the stories, whilst others preferring the wordsearch and the colouring.