Secondary Schools

Sean and Rod McCarthy have over 50 years combined teaching experience in both Primary and Secondary schools including Catholic, Independent and State schools.

Sean and Rod are both V.I.T registered and all of our staff have a current Working With Children check (W.W.C.) and Police checks.

We have full Public Liability Insurance of $20m & as we use live animals in all of our presentations, we have prepared Risk Assessment documentation which is available on request when you book with us.

Rod has experience at all levels of Primary education and has worked extensively with various universities in the supervision of student teachers.

Sean is an experienced Secondary science and maths teacher, and has also worked with CSIRO's Lab on Legs program for several years.

Bringing this combination to Snakehandler, we have been able to develop VELS and CSF II programs to suit your individual needs; we can tailor make a program to your requirements.

Our programs are live, interactive and fun; we welcome student and teacher questions and feedback.

What Snakehandler Offers

As each school is different we develop programs depending on your requirements.  Let us know what you need and we will structure it for you; all of our programs fit in to VELS and CSF II.

Alternatively we can offer programs in the following areas:

  • Body Shape and structure
  • Nocturnal and diurnal animals
  • Habitats; where do you find them and why?
  • Survival and growth
  • Diet; how do we know what they eat?
  • How do we know when they eat?
  • Features to help in survival
  • Defence and Camouflage
  • Classification; how do we do it and why?
  • Temperature regulation
  • Sensory systems
  • Evolution
  • Ecology

Cost

The all important question... What will this cost me? Snakehandler has a standard $150 per hour rate, regardless of class size. Each of our programs are fully flexible, we can accommodate groups of all sizes for this price, the only thing which changes is the amount of interaction each student gets with the animals. We require a minimum of 2 hours at metropolitan schools, and a full day at regional schools.

We have a maximum per day amount of $600; this effectively gives you 5 sessions for the price of 4. We also offer multiple days discounted rates, please contact us for further information. This price includes GST and all costs.

We do not generally bring Venomous Snakes to Primary Schools as we do not believe it to be safe practice. We have a separate program available for whole school assemblies, involving Venomous Snakes, what to do if they are sighted and basic snake bite first aid.  See the Reptile Awareness page for further details.We are also available for school fairs, fetés and open days!  See the Shows and Expos page for more details.

If you would like to see what previous school groups have thought of our programs, click on our Testimonials page