Treasure Your Chest initiative launches at Park Community School in Havant to educate schoolgirls on breast health

Treasure Your Chest was relaunched today, at the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to Year 10 students at Park Community School in Havant.

The project provides teachers with reliable and evidence-based information packaged into downloadable online resources developed by researchers at the University of Portsmouth, St Mary's University in Twickenham, London, and the University of Chichester.

In 2015, the team surveyed over 2,000 schoolgirls aged 11-17 to learn more about their breast concerns, finding that 87 per cent had at least one concern, and the same number wanted to learn more.

Professor Joanna Wakefield-Scurr, from the Research Group in Breast Health at the University of Portsmouth, was there to give the presentation to the class.

She said: ‘We believe that girls deserve to receive comprehensive breast education, beyond the biological aspects of puberty taught in schools.

‘Breast development can be a positive milestone in the development of the female body, but it can also be an embarrassing and confusing time.’

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‘By empowering girls with knowledge and awareness, we believe that girls' body confidence, health and participation in physical activity can be significantly improved.’

Their research also revealed almost half had concerns about breast cancer, 72 per cent wanted to know more, and 77 per cent rated the topic as extremely important.

Laura Cavanagh, assistant headteacher, added: ‘The session has been brilliant, so informative. It’s such a taboo subject, not all students have that supportive network around them, so being empowered with the knowledge themselves is really vital for them.’

So far the resources, available free of charge, have been downloaded more than 300 times by a variety of schools, clubs, organisations, and parents.

14-year-old Connie Layton, said: ‘I feel like it’s awkward but it’s a topic that needs to be talked about for girls, I’ve thought about it but I've never looked into it.

‘I didn’t know there was other signs for breast cancer other than lumps, I know what to look for now.’

Shailey Collins, 14, added: ‘I’ve had a lot of people in my family who’ve gone through cancer, I feel like it needs to be taught more often so people feel confident talking about things like this.’