Sport Whanganui’s Healthy Active Learning team is growing

The Healthy Active Learning team run a range of programmes in the district.

The Sport Whanganui Healthy Active Learning (HAL) team is having a positive impact on communities throughout Whanganui, Rangitīkei and Ruapehu after only 12 months of operation.

Healthy Active Learning is a joint initiative between Sport New Zealand, Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Education to help improve the wellbeing of tamariki through healthy eating, drinking, and quality physical activity. The initiative is part of the Government’s Wellbeing Strategy.

Sport Whanganui is one of 17 Regional Sports Trusts that are part of HAL throughout Aotearoa, working with 30 schools across the Whanganui, Rangitīkei and Ruapehu region.

The Sport Whanganui HAL team is made up of a regional lead and three advisers, who each work alongside 10 primary schools within the region. The team has recently grown to include Libby Rayner, Justin Gush and Dinelle Saunders as community connectors in Rangitīkei and Whanganui, with Libby’s role a partnership with Te Rūnanga o Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa in Marton.

Clare Lynch, regional HAL lead at Sport Whanganui, says the team aims to support schools to be confident and capable in delivering the Health and Physical Education and Hauora curriculum to create better health outcomes for tamariki.

“The first year of the initiative was very successful, with the evaluation providing insightful data showing a significant shift after 12 months in the importance of health and physical education in schools and access to professional development, an increase in opportunities for tamariki to be active, and teachers feeling more confident and capable when planning and teaching,” says Clare.

“Sport has always been a focus, but now there is more of a connection to their wellbeing and why.”

Year two is now under way, with the team getting a good sense of what schools would like moving forward.

“In addition to continuing to support the health and physical education area and offering various professional development opportunities, there will be more of an emphasis on external support through the community connector roles, creating connections with the wider community and support in the healthy food and drink space.

“Covid really separated our school from the community, so we are working now to rebuild those connections and bring the community element back into the school.”

There is an open role for a HAL adviser based in the Ruapehu district, with applications to be sent to Tania King at Sport Whanganui. More information and a job description can be found at: sportwhanganui.co.nz/about/vacancies/.