Get spotted: schools

Melanoma Awareness Campaign

16 – 22 October 2023

You’re invited to participate in our annual ‘Get Spotted’ awareness campaign.

Your school can help raise awareness of being sun smart, and about melanoma by doing something fun, showing your support and teaching your staff and students about the importance of taking care of the skin they’re in, in line with the NZ health and physical education curriculum requirements.

There are loads of ideas for getting involved and supporting the cause, such as:

  • Taking part in the Get Spotted colouring competition,

  • Selling our colour-changing UV Bands – a great reminder to protect your skin from UV radiation,

  • Holding a sun smart scavenger hunt,

  • Dressing up in sun smart or spotty gear,

  • Holding a sun smart quiz,

  • Running a raffle or a creative spotty fundraising idea to raise vital funds to help prevent avoidable deaths and suffering from melanoma.

More than 6000 New Zealanders are diagnosed with melanoma every year and more people die from skin cancer than on our roads. The best time to learn sun smart habits is when you are young – slip on a long sleeve shirt, slop on some sunscreen, slap on a hat, seek some shade and slide on some sunglasses.

And this year, there’s another great reason for your school to get involved and make a difference.

To support you in educating our young people about how to keep safe in the sun, we would also like to offer kindergarten, early childhood centre and school staff free access to Melanoma New Zealand’s workplace online course until the end of 2023. The course is an easy-to-follow programme designed for New Zealand organisations to educate staff about sun safety, melanoma prevention and early detection.

Thanks to our proud supporter, Lidgard Shades, we have an amazing ‘SPOT PRIZE’ up for grabs: A 49m2 Shade Sail, including four steel posts, worth almost $20,000, including installation. The winner can select their colour of choice from the range provided by Lidgard Shades.

To be in the running for the ‘SPOT PRIZE’, all you need to do is:

1. Register your school below.
2. Hold your ‘Get Spotted’ activities – eg colouring contest, scavenger hunt, dress up in sun smart or spotty gear.
3. Elevate your fundraising with education about being SunSmart
4. Upload photos or videos to social media of your school participating in ‘Get Spotted’ activities and tag us on Facebook, Instagram and/or LinkedIn , adding the hashtags #GetSpotted #MelanomaNewZealand. Alternatively, you can email your photos or videos to: admin@melanoma.org.nz, and we’ll post them on our channels.

Raise awareness, educate about sun-smart practices and make a difference for a charitable cause.

Please register your support below.

Red shade sail blue sky

Register and enter

UV Bands

Woman with shaved head sunflower earring
Sunglass illustration

Colouring Contest

Fundraise

Group of children in spotty clothes
Three happy women in aprons

Sunsmart Education

Social Frame

Group of children in spotty clothes
Three happy women in aprons

Resources

There are loads of resources for getting involved and supporting the cause.

I really want to do something to support the work Melanoma New Zealand does to raise awareness of the symptoms of melanoma so this awful cancer is found early when it can be treated and potentially cured.

– Simon McLean

Man with sunglasses and t-shirt