03 Aug 2016 Cobram Courier, Cobram VIC (General News) Cobram and District Specialist School will receive $12 650 to provide protection from harmful UV radiation by installing shade around the school. State Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes announced the 21 recipients of grants from the first round of the Andrews Governments School Shade Grants Program, totalling more than $400 000 for schools in the region. Shade is a simple and effective way to protect ourselves from the sun and by doing so reduces the likelihood of sunburn and deadly skin cancer, Ms Symes said. Schools do a great job of teaching from a young age the importance of being sun smart and maintaining a healthy balance of UV exposure when playing outdoors. Students know about being sun smart sunscreen and hats are commonplace in the playground and with the help of these grants there will now be more safe shade options for our kids. Its freezing across Victoria at the moment but funding now means schools will have time to get their shade protection in place for the warmer and more skin-damaging months. The grants will be used to build new shade structures, repair existing shade, purchase portable shade or create natural shade by planting trees. Australia has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world and in 2014 melanoma was the fifth most common cancer in Victoria. It is estimated that 40 000 new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed in Victoria every year. Childhood and adolescence are periods where overexposure to UV radiation is more likely to contribute to skin cancer later in life. To apply for round two of the Schools Shade Grants Program visit www.health.vic.gov.au/schoolshade-grants Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence.