Year 4 Drugs Education Lesson Plans
And Protective Behaviours
Lesson 1- legal and illegal drugs
Purpose
to ensure pupils know which drugs are legal and which are illegal
Activity
Either
Ask the pupils to list all the drugs they know and write them on the board. Make sure there are
some medicines, tobacco, alcohol, solvents, as well as a range of illegal drugs.
Explain that it is against the law to make (produce), have (possession), give or sell (supply), or
bring in to the country (trafficking) some drugs.
Ask them which of the drugs on their list are legal or illegal, and mark them accordingly.
Or
Give them a list of drugs to sort out into legal and illegal. Explain difference as above. These
could be on cards and given to people to move to the “legal’ or “illegal side of the room.
Answers
Legal - Most medicines from shops, pharmacists, prescriptions, caffeine...
Legal with restrictions
Tobacco
• can only be sold to 16 year olds
Alcohol
• illegal to give anyone under 5
• 14 year olds can go into a pub, but not drink or buy alcoholic drinks
• 16 yr olds can have an alcoholic drink with a meal
• 18 yr olds can be sold alcoholic drinks
Solvents
• offence to sell solvents to under 18s if shopkeeper suspects they may be misused
Tranquillizers, anabolic steroids
• are “prescription only” which means that it is an offence to supply them to people they are not
prescribed for
Illegal drugs
Amphetamines, crack, cocaine, opium, heroin, cannabis, LSD, “magic” mushrooms, ecstasy...
Notes
Consider whether to add any they miss out, or encourage them to come up with them.
No need to go into lots of detail about illegal drugs - only need to know that they are illegal.
If you don’t know what the names they use mean, ask them, or try to find out before the next session.
Reflection
Individual, pair, small group or whole class
1. What have you learnt from this activity?
2. What do you want to find out more about?
Lesson 2 - unwritten rules about drugs
Purpose
to elicit what children their age, and adults, say about medicines, tobacco, alcohol, solvents, illegal
drugs and how they feel, what they think and how they affect their behaviour
Activity
Draw a large gingerbread person on the board.
Ask them to tell you what people their age say about using medicines, e.g. “when I don’t feel well, my
mum gives me some medicine”, “medicine always tastes horrible”..
Write these inside the outline of the gingerbread person.
Ask them how they feel when people say these things, what they think and what they do.
Ask them to tell you what adults say about medicines, e.g. “this may taste horrible, but it’ll make you
feel better”, “only take medicine given to you by an adult”
Write these outside the outline of the gingerbread person.
Ask them how they feel when adults say these things, what they think and what they do.
Ask them if there are any differences or tensions between what is inside/outside the outline.
Repeat with (a selection of) tobacco, alcohol, solvents, (individual) illegal drugs by:
Either
putting large pieces of paper round the room with the name of the drug and a gingerbread
person on, and asking them to go round and write on them (or give them post-its to write at
their table and take to the appropriate sheet)
or
give small groups a sheet as above and to complete it as for medicines
Then having some kind of feed back about each sheet
Say that we have talked about feelings and thoughts, which affect behaviour, which is a choice with an
effect.
Reflection
Divide the group into pairs
Ask one of them to select one of the unwritten rules for people their age, and the other to select one
which adults say, then to explain how they feel when these are said, what they are thinking, the
choices they have and the effects of these, and whether they will change what they do in the future.
Lesson 3 - EWS, F/T/B, theme 1
Purpose
to develop an understanding of early warning signs related to drug situations and the feelings,
thoughts aroused and choices available in them.
Activity
Ask them to tell you real situations involving medicines, tobacco, alcohol, solvents, illegal drugs that
they might get into, in which they might feel uncomfortable or unsafe or scared. List these on the
board.
Either on the board, or in small groups with large paper, ask them to draw all the effects on their body
of being in these situations.
Explain these are Early Warning Signs, which let them know that they don’t feel safe.
Tell them Theme 1: We all have the right to feel safe all the time
Explain that in lots of situations:
• feelings just arise, like fear, anxiety, stubbornness..;
• thoughts occur, like “I’m not going to do that”, “why is he making me do this?”...;
• and we have choices, affected by these feelings and thoughts, about what to do, each choice
having an effect on ourselves or other people.
Take one of the situations, (or give small groups one each) and ask them to list the feelings that might
arise in the situation, the thoughts they may have, the choices available to them and the possible
effects on them and other people. Ask them to select which choice would make them (and others) feel
most safe.
Reflection
Think of a situation which you have been in when you didn’t feel safe. What were your feelings,
thoughts and choices. What could you or others have done to make you (and them) feel safe(r). How
will you make choices in the future to make you and others feel safe(r)?
Lesson 4 - the safety continuum
Purpose
to explain the safety continuum and its application to drug situations
Activity
Write the headings “Safe”, “fun to feel scared” , “risking on purpose”, “personal emergency” on the
board. Ask them for general activities as examples for each heading. Take one from each heading to
demonstrate:
• if you are getting EWS then you’re not feelings safe
• that in most cases there is a choice, some degree of control and a time limit, which may help
people cope with the ones that aren’t just safe.
Ensure they understand that the middle two are OK.
Repeat the activity with drug situations.
Reflection
Ask them to consider a situation that may happen in the near future, put it in the safety continuum and
consider choice, control and time limit.
Lesson 5 - rights and responsibilities
Purpose
to ensure the pupils understand that there are rights and responsibilities in most situations
Activity
Ask the pupils to tell you about uncomfortable/unsafe drug situations that they might find themselves
in. Write them on the board.
Explain the terms rights and responsibilities.
Ask them what rights people have in the situations listed.
Ask them what responsibilities people have in these situations, both for themselves and to other
people.
Explain that one human right is as explained in activity 3, i.e. theme 1.
Reflection
In what general situations do you have clear responsibilities for yourself and to others. Explain what
these are.
Lesson 6 - theme 2, networks
Purpose
to ensure the pupils understand theme 2 - “There is nothing so awful or so small, that we can’t talk
with someone about it”, and to consider the qualities of the kind of person they are comfortable talking
with.
Activity
Ask the pupils to tell you about situations involving illness and/or medicines, tobacco, alcohol, solvents
or illegal drugs that they might consider not telling other people about, and why they might keep it a
secret.
Explain that if they’re not feeling safe that there is nothing so awful, or so small, that we can’t talk with
someone about it.
Ask what qualities people they are comfortable talking to have, and if there are any differences
between those for people their age and for adults. What kinds of adults, apart from parents would be
able to listen to you and to help you if you’re not feeling safe or comfortable? - teacher, school nurse,
policeman...
Reflection
Write a list of the people you know that have these qualities, and who you can talk to, or might want to
talk to, if you’re not feeling safe.
Activity 7 - talking to people, PBs strategies
Purpose
to consider ways to talk with, and to ask questions of, people when you’re not feeling safe
Activity
Divide the class into seven roughly equal groups. Tell them that you want each group to consider a
different strategy for talking to people when they don’t feel safe in drug situations.
1. Reinforcement of theme 1 - We all have the right to feel safe all the time
Ask them to consider a range of situations and the exact wording they could use to express this
theme.
2. Reinforcement of theme 2 - There is nothing so awful or so small, that we can’t talk with someone
about it
Ask them to consider awful and small situations and concerns, and how they might express them to
someone who fobs them off.
3. One-step removed
Ask them to consider a range of situations and how they might ask questions or inform the adult of
something without them knowing it was about them.
4. Persistence
Ask them to consider a range of situations and how they might keep on at someone who wasn’t taking
any notice of what they said
5. Protective interruption
Ask them to consider a range of situations and how they might interrupt a busy/important person to tell
them about how they feel unsafe
6. Risking on purpose
Ask them to consider a range of situations and the reasons and learning experiences from risking on
purpose.
Reflection
Ask the groups to report back on their work (even with a role play if they wish), and for the rest of the
class to ask questions.
Lesson 8 - effects of drugs on F/T/B
Purpose
to consider how being unwell or taking a medicine or drug affects your feelings, thoughts and
behaviour
Activity
Draw three overlapping circles on one side of the board.
Ask them how they might feel if they’re unwell, and write “feelings” in the first circle and then what they
say.
Do the same with “thoughts” and “behaviour/actions/choices” and the effects these have.
Make the point that all three are interlinked and it may be more difficult to act sensibly when illness
affects feelings and thoughts. Suggest that when the illness runs its course, or they take some
medicine, their feelings, thoughts and behaviour tend to go back to normal.
Say that the same might happen if they are under the influence of a medicine that has side effects or
is not prescribed for them, or of another drug like tobacco, alcohol, solvents or illegal drugs.
Divide the class into 6 equal groups. Give two each the headings “uppers”, “downers” and “changers”
Explain that
“uppers” (stimulants) like caffeine (in tea, coffee, some soft drinks, red bull), amphetamines (speed),
cocaine and crack, can keep you awake for longer and give you more energy
“downers” (depressants) like alcohol, solvents, cannabis, tranquillizers, heroin, make you more
relaxed and sleepy
“changers” (hallucinogens) like LSD, Ecstasy, magic mushrooms, make you see the world in a
different way from normal
Ask each group to:
write down how they might feel under the influence of their type of drug
write down what they might be thinking under the influence of their type of drug
write down what choices they have under the influence of their type of drug, and the effects of those
choices on themselves and others
how they might talk to someone (one of the choices) about how unsafe they feel under the influence of
their drug
Reflection
Ask the groups to report back on their work (even with a role play if they wish), and for the rest of the
class to ask questions.
Final reinforcement of PBs
Ask the class what they have learnt about keeping themselves safe in drug situations and write some
of what they say on the board using the PBs process framework