Year 5 Health – Term 1 (WA Curriculum): Growing Up and Staying Safe

What this unit covers

In Term 1, Year 5 Health in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Growing Up and Staying Safe”.

Students explore physical, emotional and social changes during puberty while developing protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies for personal safety.

Lesson sequence (8 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. Understanding Growth and Development Through Reliable Sources
2. Physical Changes During Puberty: What to Expect
3. Managing Emotional Changes as We Grow
4. Social Changes and Friendship Challenges
5. Recognising Safe and Unsafe Situations
6. Protective Strategies for Uncomfortable Situations
7. Digital Safety and Online Protective Behaviours
8. Building Confidence to Seek Help When Needed

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 1

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 1 runs from Monday 2 February to Thursday 2 April — 9 weeks for WA public schools. With 8 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.