Recovering from bushfires
Session: Rebuilding and restoring hope
after a bushfire
Recovering from bushfires
Middle and Upper Primary (levels 4-6)
Time: 50 minutes (approximately)
Curriculum areas:
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Critical and Creative Thinking
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English
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Personal and Social Capability
© Newspix / Daniel Wilkins
Learning intention:
Students look at the ways in which people are affected by bushfires in regards to their short and long term needs. The
students will also consider community services and supports that need to be rebuilt to allow people to recover in the
aftermath of a serious bushfire.
Suggested resources:
 Whiteboard, IWB or poster paper
 Appropriate markers to record on the medium used
 Materials as selected for recording student responses. E.g. workbooks and markers, tablets, recording devices etc.
 Access to linked resources
Activities
Starting
Conduct a discussion about:
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Consider a family that has lost their home and all their possessions in a bushfire.

How do we, as individuals and as communities, help and support families who are experiencing this sense of loss,
crisis, hopelessness and hardship?
Share and record responses and ideas to this scenario.
Exploring
Working with partners or in small groups, students will develop two lists:
 The immediate needs this family might have
 The needs they will have in the longer term
As a class, discuss and share these lists. Sort the response into categories:
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Material support
Social support
Emotional
Spiritual support
© Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2015
 Feelings of being connected with family, friends, the local community and the broader community.
Ask:
 Who can provide the support the family needs?
 How might the support lead to greater optimism?
Bringing it together
As a class, create a table to record the students responses. For example, see the sample (partially completed) table of
bushfire survivor needs:
Immediate needs
Who can help?
Longer-term needs
Who can help?
Food
Local community donations,
local families, Red Cross
Buying, storing and
cooking food
Family and friends,
donations from the
broader community,
agencies (Red Cross,
Salvation Army)
Money and finances
Government departments,
local and state-wide
charities,
local fundraising
Obtaining employment,
or returning to work,
sourcing bank loans,
making
insurance claims
Centrelink, government
departments, banks,
accountants
Clothing
Local community clothing or
opportunity shops, local
families
Purchasing
replacement clothes
Family and friends,
donations from the
broader community
Shelter
Temporary emergency
accommodation (Red
Cross), local families, friends
Rebuilding or relocating
Family and friends,
local council, charities
Medical services and first
aid
Ambulance Victoria, CFA, St
John Ambulance, local
nurses and doctors, family
members
Getting care for longterm health conditions
Hospitals, doctors,
rehabilitation
Communication
Local contacts, local media,
friends and family, CFA,
Police, Red Cross
Obtaining mobile and
internet services
Trauma counselling
Hospitals, health
department, local
counsellors, religious
ministers
Receiving ongoing
counselling
Students use the discussion, group work and class generated table to write a brief reflective summary about the
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importance of community working together to rebuild the many areas affected after a bushfire.
Where possible have students share these pieces with their peers.
Extending
How can we help?
The students need to consider the types of damage that a bushfire can do to the whole community.
Develop a list of institutions and services that could be damaged in communities affected by a bushfire.
The list may include:
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Schools
Businesses
Churches
Utilities (e.g. electricity, gas, telephone, water and sewage)
Hospitals and clinics.
Next list some actions that could be taken if a bushfire were to affect a community to help them with rebuilding these
areas.
For example:
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Collecting donations from the local community to send to people in need
A performance or bush dance to raise funds and bring the community together
Making and selling food or crafts to raise funds and to provide positive social activity
Organising a school fundraiser such as a free dress day
After the Victorian bushfires in 2009
Have students research to find out about how the Australian and Victorian communities raised funds after the 2009
bushfires by researching the Red Cross's initiatives and Sound Relief benefit concerts.
To support students' research, provide scaffolding questions such as:
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What fundraising activities were used?
Who conducted the fundraising activities?
How much money was raised?
How has the money been used and distributed?
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