Brent Eastwood Sport Thought: Maungaturoto School wins big to improve health and activity

Maungaturoto School was one of three local schools to win big in the Sport Northland and the Northland District Health Board initiative, Energize "School of the Year" competition. Photo / Kerry Harris

Maungaturoto Primary School has been awarded $5000 to further improve their health and activity environments after winning the first Northland Energize "School of the Year" competition.

Energize is an initiative working primarily with decile one to four primary and intermediate schools to improve children's physical activity and nutrition, and ultimately to improve their overall health, while helping schools achieve their education outcomes. The initiative is funded by Northland District Health Board and facilitated by Sport Northland.

Participating schools were asked to showcase how their practices and environment promote physical activity and nutrition to their students and parents.

More than 20 schools entered the competition, with some very compelling applications put forward. The winners were chosen for demonstrating a wide range of practical examples of their school focusing on physical education, play, sport, consistent nutrition messaging and promotion of lifelong healthy habits.

Second prize of $3000 was awarded to Opononi Area School, with Whananaki School placing third, winning $2000.

All three schools will be encouraged to use the prize money to improve their health and activity environments even further.

Entrants detailed the changes they had made as a result of being an Energize school and how these benefited their students and communities as well. The high-quality presentations and videos received from across Northland provide countless examples of the great work being done within schools.

Sport Northland Energizers help equip teachers with ideas on how to teach all curriculum areas outside the classroom or through physical activity, which not only benefits children's learning experience but also their general health and wellbeing.

Schools were asked to provide evidence of how they are working towards the following Energize criteria:

Physical Activity

· Every child has the opportunity to be active every day (evidence of play, PE and sport opportunities)

· School management supports active learning and encourages/allows teachers to teach outside the classroom

· School planning and sports programmes/events are determined by student voice

· Teachers are engaged in improving their understanding of the health and PE curriculum or how to use play, sport, activity as a vehicle to achieve other curriculum areas

· Physical activity, play and sport opportunities promote hauora

Nutrition

· Fundraising activities are healthy

· Every aspect of school life is fizzy free and water/milk only

· If food is sold at school, healthy options are available

· Healthy choices are encouraged, are visible and made easier at school

· Lifelong healthy habits are encouraged through ongoing learning opportunities

General

· Community and whanau are engaged with the school and/or the gifts of community members are utilised to provide support to the promotion of being active and healthy

· Physical activity and nutrition topics are integrated into other curriculum areas

Congratulations to all three schools on their success and also to the other 17 schools for submitting fantastic applications that showcased the great progress they have all made towards improving their pupils' physical activity and nutrition habits