🕘 Lesson at a Glance | Te Hōtaka
Lesson Overview | Tirohanga Whānui
Ākonga learn a bounded help-seeking routine: notice an observable change or concerning words, ask directly and respectfully, listen without promising secrecy, and connect the person with appropriate adult or service support. They rehearse everyday check-in, school support, 1737, and immediate-danger contexts using composite scenarios only. Kaiako—not peers—prepare and activate the local urgent mental-health pathway.
Learning Intentions | Ngā Whāinga Ako
- Separate observable changes or words from guesses, labels, and diagnoses.
- Use a notice → ask → connect routine that protects mana, choice, and safety.
- Connect any safety concern to a responsible adult, distinguish 1737 brief support from 111 immediate-danger action, and explain the boundary of a peer's role.
Do Now · Helpful or Too Much?
5 minWhat it is: a rapid boundary sort that makes a peer's caring role visible.
Run it
- Sort (2 min): place each action under peer can do or needs an adult/service: listen briefly, diagnose, walk with someone to a dean, promise secrecy, call 111 in immediate danger, keep checking all night.
- Correct (1 min): add one action missing from each column.
- State the boundary (2 min): complete, “Manaaki means I can care and connect; it does not mean I must ______.”
Activity 1 · Build the Help-seeking Pathway
15 minWhat it is: groups construct a short routine that is easy to use even when stress has narrowed attention, memory, or words.
1 · Notice
Name only what was seen or heard: “You left the activity and said you couldn't manage today.” One clue is not a diagnosis.
2 · Ask
Choose a private-enough moment and ask one direct question: “Are you okay?” or “Would you like help to connect with someone?”
3 · Listen briefly
Thank the person, do not interrogate, and do not promise secrecy. Short language and limited choices can help when stress makes thinking harder.
4 · Connect
Go with them to the named trusted adult or school support. If they decline but safety is concerning, tell an adult anyway.
5 · Escalate
If safety is concerning, get a responsible adult immediately. The adult follows the kura's urgent pathway; immediate danger means adult/111 action. A peer does not assess which clinical service is needed.
Run it
- Order (3 min): arrange the five pathway cards. Mark the point where a responsible adult takes over; keep immediate danger linked to adult/111 action.
- Make it usable (5 min): add the actual adult, location, and backup route for your kura. Kaiako supplies these details; learners must not guess them.
- Stress-test (4 min): imagine the helper feels flustered. Reduce each stage to no more than eight words while preserving the boundary.
- Whare-check (3 min): label how the pathway can support taha hinengaro, taha whānau, and at least one other part of the whare.
Activity 2 · Manaaki Language Lab
15 minWhat it is: ākonga revise common responses so they show care, set a safe boundary, and move toward connection.
Replace fixing
Instead of “Just cheer up”, try “That sounds heavy. What support would be useful right now?”
Replace interrogation
Instead of many “why” questions, try “You can share as much or as little as you want. Let's find an adult who can help.”
Replace secrecy
Instead of “I won't tell anyone”, try “I care about you. If safety is involved, I need to bring in an adult.”
Replace carrying it alone
Instead of “Message me any time all night”, try “I can walk with you to our kaiako now; I cannot be the only support.”
Run it
- Diagnose the sentence—not the person (4 min): highlight where each unhelpful phrase fixes, pressures, promises secrecy, or shifts adult responsibility to a peer.
- Reframe (5 min): write two new phrases using this structure: acknowledge + ask + connect/boundary.
- Say it (3 min): practise one phrase at a natural volume. A learner may use text-to-speech, point to a communication card, or submit in writing.
- Check mana (3 min): the receiver names one phrase that preserved choice and one word that could be more direct.
Activity 3 · Pathway Rehearsals
20 minWhat it is: triads rehearse the next safe action in four composite contexts without acting out distress or treating them as an exhaustive risk scale.
A · Check in
A classmate leaves a group task and says, “I can't manage this today.” Practise notice, ask, and an offer to connect with the named classroom adult.
B · School support
A fictional learner says they want more help than a friend can give. Practise going together to the kura counsellor, hauora lead, dean, nurse, or designated adult.
C · 1737
A person in Aotearoa wants brief emotional support outside school. 1737 offers free, confidential, 24/7 support by text or online chat. It is a connection option, not an emergency response.
D · Immediate danger
Someone is in immediate danger. Get a responsible adult now and call 111. Do not leave a peer to assess or carry the emergency alone.
Run it
- Assign (2 min): one learner reads the composite card, one practises the helper's words, and one uses the pathway checklist. Nobody performs symptoms or invents personal detail.
- Rehearse A/B (6 min): use one notice statement, one direct question, one listening response, and a named school connection.
- Rehearse C/D (6 min): state how to access 1737, then practise the emergency boundary: “This is immediate danger; I am getting an adult and calling 111.” Do not simulate a 111 call.
- Rotate (3 min): change roles or choose the written observer route.
- Debrief (3 min): identify the exact point where peer support ended and adult/service responsibility began.
Synthesis · Complete the Connection Card
15 minWhat it is: ākonga create a concise notice → ask → connect script tied to the real kura pathway.
Run it
- Notice (3 min): choose one composite card and record only the observable change or words that make a check-in reasonable.
- Ask/listen (4 min): write one respectful question and two brief responses that acknowledge without fixing or promising secrecy.
- Connect (4 min): name the first school adult/place, the backup route, and the action the helper takes with the person.
- Boundary-test (2 min): mark the responsible-adult handoff. Name 1737 only as an optional brief-support connection and 111 only for immediate danger; a peer does not choose an urgent clinical route.
- Refine (2 min): use partner feedback to replace one vague phrase with exact words.
Exit · What Would You Say Next?
5 min- A composite learner says, “I need more help than a friend can give.” Write your next sentence.
- Name the first adult/place in this kura pathway and one backup.
- Complete: “If there is immediate danger, I will ______ because a peer's role is ______.”
🎯 Curriculum Links | Te Hononga ki te Marautanga
Health and Physical Education · Phase 3. The lesson links stress-related changes in words, attention, and action to short supportive communication. Ākonga practise reframing unhelpful responses, setting peer boundaries, and maintaining a relationship by connecting the person with appropriate help.
Stress responses are often part of how the brain and body react to challenge, and understanding these responses helps people manage them by reframing thoughts, setting boundaries, and maintaining supportive relationships.
See the unit's verified curriculum map and teaching rationale.
📦 Materials & Resources
- Workbook lesson 10 — Notice → Ask → Connect — one per ākonga.
- The four composite route cards and phrase cards, printed or displayed.
- A kaiako-completed kura pathway card naming first adult/place, backup, out-of-class route, local crisis assessment team, nearest emergency department, and immediate-danger procedure.
- Current links or QR codes for 1737, local crisis assessment teams, and 111 emergency guidance.
📊 Assessment Framework
- LI 1: the response begins with an observable change or exact words and contains no label or diagnosis.
- LI 2: the rehearsal uses an acknowledgement, a direct question, a safe boundary, and an active connection.
- LI 3: the card hands safety concerns to a responsible adult, identifies 1737 as optional brief emotional support, and identifies immediate danger as adult/111 action without asking a peer to choose an urgent clinical service.
Fast check: reject scripts that end with “tell someone”. A complete response names who, where, what the helper does next, and the backup if the first route is unavailable.
🚀 Extension & Adaptation
- More support: provide four colour-coded cards—notice, ask, listen, connect—with sentence stems and kura contacts already printed.
- More challenge: test what happens when the first adult is unavailable, the learner prefers a different adult, or the helper is online and cannot physically accompany them.
- Communication access: accept AAC, signed, written, pointed, or text-to-speech rehearsals as equivalent. Direct communication does not require eye contact or spoken fluency.
🔗 Unit Progression
Lesson 9 established where self-regulation options fit and where more support is required. This lesson rehearses the connecting action. Lesson 11 maps a wider protective network, and Lesson 12 requires every action plan to include realistic people, places, boundaries, and pathways.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Success criteria
- I can notice and ask without guessing, labelling, or diagnosing.
- I can listen briefly, avoid promises of secrecy, and connect the person with a named adult or service.
- I can explain why 1737 is brief support, why immediate danger requires adult/111 action, and why a peer never selects or manages an urgent clinical route.
Safety and inclusion
- Use composite scenarios and action-only role cards. Learners never perform crisis, disclose personal experiences, or identify peers they are “worried about” in class.
- Do not teach ākonga to assess seriousness. Concerning safety information goes to the responsible adult; immediate danger goes to adult/111 action.
- Before class, verify named kura contacts, physical locations, the local crisis assessment team, nearest emergency department, after-hours plan, 1737 access, and immediate-danger procedure. Keep the clinical decision adult-only; do not leave blanks for learners to improvise.
- If a disclosure occurs, acknowledge it, avoid investigation in front of the class, and follow the kura's safeguarding and pastoral policy.