Healthy Living at Solway Primary
18 September 2023
The handover process when changing the lead teacher is an important part of keeping momentum going with Healthy Active Learning support. Solway Primary School, in Masterton, went through a change of lead teacher at the end of 2022. This was a fantastic opportunity to review progress over the previous twelve months, get the incoming lead up to speed and set new goals.
Our advisor Darren had helped the school introduce the Te Whare Tapa Whā model, which came from the hauora focus of the Masterton Kahui Ako in 2021. Staff workshops and lesson modelling were then undertaken with the vision of improving physical activity within the school. Student voice was also gathered, to add to the foundation of knowledge from which to build.
The kai and drink coming into school from home was a focus area identified for Term 2. Ideas and resources were shared at a staff meeting facilitated by our advisor Darren, which promoted positive discussion amongst the staff units and the collective decision was made to use a whole school approach. Between them, teachers created a wide range of engaging activities that were based on the different ages and needs of the tamariki.
Andrea Harvey (teacher) gauged interest in creating a student kaitiaki group to produce ideas that would benefit their fellow students. Soon enough, a fortnightly slot was timetabled for the newly elected kaitiaki group. The school's focus on nutrition sparked the idea for a Whole School Hauora Day at the end of the term. The goals of the day were to celebrate the learning of the term and to provide fun activities to enhance people’s hauora. The kaitiaki group identified physical activity as an important part of the day to complement the nutrition aspects.
The first part of the day comprised of celebrating the learning and preparing and eating kai. It was fantastic to see how engaged the students were in their learning and how enthusiastically they could discuss it. There was a wide range of kai prepared which included fruit skewers, healthy art toast, baked potatoes, fruit and vegetable platters, smoothies, and fruity parfaits. Local supermarkets supported the day through donated vouchers.
The middle part of the day comprised of each class rotating around four different fruit and vegetable activities. Each teacher was tasked with producing a 15-minute activity based on a fruit or vegetable drawn from a hat.
In the afternoon, the Kaitiaki group then led movement activities in house groups followed by fun relay races.
The unit and day aligned with the Healthy Active Learning outcomes and the Nuku Ora’s wider vision of “Hauora. Everyone active, healthy, and happy.”
