A new online resource to help school children understand flooding in the Hawkesbury Nepean Valley has been launched at Western Sydney University (WSU).
Western Sydney Minister Stuart Ayres joined university representatives and NSW State Emergency Service volunteers to launch the educational resources for students and teachers at WSU's Hawkesbury campus on October 30, which are hosted on the SES website.
University researchers developed the package to support teaching and learning in the 'Water in the World' curriculum for Year 7 and 8 high school geography students, and the package was developed under a partnership between WSU, the SES and Infrastructure NSW.
Hawkesbury SES Controller Kevin Jones welcomed the new resources.
"This is a great collaboration between SES, iNSW, Western Sydney Univerisyt and schools," he told the Gazette.
"It will be a fantastic resources for schools and will make a difference to how our communities in the future think about and prepare for flooding.
"It is a long term project to build awareness in our kids, and this will ultimately influence how well prepared and resilient our communities will be for flooding."
Hawkesbury MP Robyn Preston also welcomed the resources.
"It's fitting that we are here to introduce this exciting new educational package at the Hawkesbury campus of Western Sydney University, in the heart of the floodplain," Ms Preston said.
"Our young people, their families and their communities will all benefit from a better understanding of how and why flooding happens in our region."
The resources can be found by visiting www.ses.nsw.gov.au/for-schools.
