Harold the Giraffe

Harold the Giraffe is the Trusts mascot. He works in the mobile classroom with the educator, to demonstrate what happens when things go according to plan and what happens when they don't. Harold is a friendly character and children's responses show that Harold has a huge impact in reinforcing the messages we teach.

We use Harold as our mascot because Ted Noffs wanted to encourage children to look up, rather than looking down at their bootlaces. Giraffes, like us, are unique and special creatures:

• The spot pattern on a giraffe is like a fingerprint pattern – no two giraffe’s spot patterns are the same. As humans, we each have different fingerprints, tongue prints, toe prints, iris patterns and DNA that make us unique. The fact that this blueprint will never be repeated exactly the same again in time, makes us special.
• Giraffes are tall. We all need to stand tall and be proud of who we are.
• Giraffes are big hearted creatures – their hearts are the size of a basketball. We also should be ‘big-hearted’ and be kind to other people.
• Giraffes have very long necks. We need to be ready to stick our necks out and support our friends.