At the commencement of 2021, Oruaiti School trained up the newest group of student leaders to oversee physical activity within the school, a tradition that has been going at Oruaiti for three years.

Their vision is to get the whole school moving so on a Wednesday morning at 9am, the whole school gets out for half an hour and rotates around stations.

There are games and activities set up for all ages and the Physical Activity Leaders (PAL’s) are responsible for everything from planning the activities, setting them up and running them (with the support of teachers).

As Kaiya Lafatanoa, Deputy Principal explains “today we had PAL two groups in the hall, playing to different games. After 5mins the PAL leaders recognised that the space wasn't big enough, so they stopped the game and reset so that the two groups became one big group. That was awesome to see from a teacher’s point of view. Senior students using initiative”.

The PAL kaupapa has been going strong at Oruaiti for so many years because of the wide-ranging benefits for students and links to school values. Some of the reasons are captured in the below comments from the school.

Feedback from the school on the kaupapa

“Our kids love PAL”

“Students enjoy the games in the morning before learning”

“We are teaching students that exercise is fun and normalise daily exercise as the norm”

“Whole school together creates a sense of whakawhanaungatanga and with the seniors leading we have developed strong tuakana/teina relationships”

“Students will play the games at lunch time”

“Seniors are given an opportunity to lead show initiative and growth within themselves”

“Juniors are recognising those seniors in the playground as someone they can trust and rely on”

“Students teaching students, teachers are managing behaviour”