The children gave a warm welcome to their favourite health mascot on Monday, October 22. 

The portable, dome-like classroom will allow more children in regional areas to access programs run by Life Education, including those which focus on drugs/alcohol and anti-bullying.

Life Education NSW chief executive Kellie Sloane joined Member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams at the school to make the announcement. 

Ms Sloane said the pop-up classroom is an exciting development and a first for regional NSW.

“We’re so excited to be here at Lake Cathie and the kids here are very excited about the announcement,” she said. 

Ms Sloane said it’s important for Life Education to continue to champion innovative and cost-effective initiatives.

“The big mobile learning centres (Healthy Harold vans) that everyone is familiar with are very expensive,” she said. 

“They are also sometimes hard to move into schools which don’t have a lot of room.

“The pop-up classrooms are about a fifth of the price, very mobile and and just as exciting as the vans.

“It still incorporates much-loved features of the van including the stars on the ceiling, touch screens, cutting-edge technology and of course Healthy Harold.” 

The pop-up classroom, Ms Sloane said, will allow the program to reach an additional 1000 students on the Mid North Coast over the next year.  

The new classroom format will supplement the traditional Healthy Harold vans.

Member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams said the pop-up initiative signified a ‘new look for Healthy Harold’.

“At the end of the day the really important messages that Harold provides to students about healthy eating habits and a healthy lifestyle will be the same. 

“What we want to do is ensure every child, no matter where they live gets the opportunity to hear that message,” she said. 

The NSW Government committed $191,000 in funding for Life Education to help the organisation purchase three new pop-up inflatable classrooms. 

The funding also went towards subsiding the cost of the classes in the state’s most disadvantaged schools.