Wairarapa Wrap-Up September 2023
4 September 2023
Kia Hakinakina
Kia Hakinakina has been running in the Wairarapa for four years, supported by the Sport New Zealand Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa fund. The programme has a focus on enhancing play for tamariki through fundamental movement skills. Kia Hakinakina are in primary schools every day during the school term and then during school holidays, they are running play opportunities for all tamariki and whanau across the Wairarapa region, usually with the play trailer. They have recently taken on new schools Dalefield and Pirinoa, alongside their current schools of Whareama, Lakeview School, Masterton Primary School, St Marys, Wainuioru, Greytown Primary, and Martinborough School. Overall, through delivery in these school settings, Kia Hakinakina are impacting at least 2,000 tamariki and 115 teaching staff.
Nuku Ora sat down with Emily Draper, Lead Activator, to ask a few questions.
What does a Kia Hakinakina delivery session look like?
A typical session is over 30 minutes. In these 30 minutes, there are 3 games and usually, the session starts with some kind of tag. Depending on the focus of the term, it might be large ball skills that relate to winter sports, so the games will be centred around fundamental skills with large balls. Over the term, the games will progressively get harder as the students develop. Each session has a values piece at the start – for example ‘honesty and respect’ and the facilitators will get the students to reflect during and after and ask how they have shown those values during the session.
What has been a highlight of the last 6 months?
There are a few highlights but hearing feedback from the tamariki after the session that ‘it was really fun’ was the top. Seeing kids develop their skills over time was another. All games are adapted to suit the needs of the group, and it is a safe space for kids to give it a go. The games are fun, and no one is excluded. It’s rewarding to see those kids who usually miss out or aren’t given the opportunity to be included, get stuck in and achieve at their own level.
Another highlight is the PALS programme which Kia Hakinakina has been implementing in some of their schools. Physical Activity Leaders or Playground Activity Leaders is a way to develop school leaders through a 6-week course. The first half of the course is teaching them the skills, and the second half is implementing the learnings through practical experiences. The idea is to not only upskill teachers to take a quality PE class but to have students also lead classes to provide a quality experience for all.
What are you looking to do in the future/what’s coming up for you?
Kia Hakinakina are looking to expand even further into more schools. Emily is now joined by staff members Anna and Patrick, who will see the programme grow as their capacity to take on more schools has expanded.
The Kia Hakinakina team are also working closely with Canterbury Cricket which have a regional play project, Kia Kori Waitaha. They have regular meetings and can share insights and feed ideas off one another.
How do you get all of the kids and teachers involved?
The games are fun, and they are also short and sharp with not a lot of downtime for kids to get distracted. The games are adapted to suit the needs of the class and are designed to include everyone. The teachers can really see the value in Kia Hakinakina and are keen to be involved. Kia Hakinakina plans with the teachers ahead of the school term and sets a focus for the term, so this is integrated into the sessions. The teachers are asking for new games and are delivering their sessions with the learnings from Kia Hakinakina which is awesome.
What can be a challenge during the session?
If going into a new school, you don’t always know the range of ability the class might have, so you have to be good at adapting games to suit all kids and include everyone. This involves being very creative and thinking on the spot.
RSD Role:
The Wairarapa Secondary School sports Director role has remained vacant. The Principals Association have just gone through another round of recruitment which closed on the 13th of September and are hoping to have a person to fill the position soon.
The Wairarapa Secondary Schools Sports Director plans, coordinates and implements intercollegiate sporting opportunities for all secondary school students in the Wairarapa. They also have a great relationship with the college Sports Directors who meet regularly to continue to grow participation and engagement in sports and recreation.
Despite the role being vacant, Kim Whiteman has still taken the lead. There was a meeting held on the 17th of August for the summer sport codes to present their upcoming seasons to the sports coordinators.
On the 22nd of September, there will be another meeting for the winter sports 2023 debrief.
Partnership Manager, Wairarapa - Maternity Cover:
Chloe Frederiksen’s Partnership Manager role is currently being advertised, as she is finishing up at the end of October to go on maternity leave. Please see the job description here: https://www.nukuora.org.nz/about/vacancies/
Applications close on the 2nd of October.
Wairarapa Walking Festival:
The Wairarapa Walking Festival is an outdoor festival celebrating walking of all kinds; cultural, and heritage, at the coast, up a hill, or around urban environments. The 2023 Festival include a mix of distances and difficulties. Families and children are welcome and there are some dog-friendly walks. The walking festival is from Friday 10th of November to Sunday 19th November.
You can register for most events directly on Eventfinda.
The full programme is up on the Carterton Events Centre website, with links through to Eventfinda.
Wairarapa Maori Sports Awards:
Nominations are now open for the Wairarapa Māori Sports Awards 2023. We need your nominations Wairarapa!
Click here to submit your nomination. Nominations close on the 2nd of October.
Wairarapa Māori Sports Awards was first established in 2007 by the late Jeff Workman. Jeff developed the Awards to celebrate Wairarapa Māori sporting participation, achievement and excellence, and to showcase our positive role models.
Since then, the WMSA has grown in strength and in numbers to include new Sports Awards categories, sponsorship and funding, including the Robert Algie Memorial Trust Scholarships. All our WMSA Nominees, Finalists and Winners for the past 12 years have been mentors for our community, providing mana for our athletes, as well as inspiration for our rangatahi.
Written by Chloe Frederiksen, Partnership Manager Wairarapa, Nuku Ora.
