Te Horo recently held their first Whanau Hauora Day at the school, aiming to educate whanau about the importance of healthy eating and physical activity and how these contribute to overall hauora. It was hoped by experiencing these messages at school, learnings would be taken home and implemented with whanau at home as well.

There were a total of six stationed activities at the Hauora Day. One activity was a fruit kabab station set out by school management and operated by a board of trustees member. Cut up fruit pieces on a small kebab stick was shown as a healthy alternative for snacks at home. A boxing session led by a parent of the school courtesy of Mike Daniels Sparring Gym, was a student pleaser that continually had children lined up for a five minute turn. This was so popular that a positive spin off from the Whanau Hauora Day is the free, twice a week boxing sessions offered to both students and children in the community.

A sugary drink information station was run by teachers, with students and parents finding the station informative as they tried to match sugar content sachets with examples of popular sweet drinks. The game type challenge of this activity appealed to younger as well as older school students.  Energizer Paora Simon attended to support the kaupapa of the day by bringing in a blender bike, a bike you have to ride to blend up your smoothie!. Children were keen to give this a go and worked for their smoothie by peddling the bike.

Another station had teacher Kerry Crossley demonstrating simple fitness activities requiring no equipment, that could be done at home. These included walking up and down steps, press ups, star jumps and jumping on the spot.

The fifth station was a recycled clothing one, operated by year 8 student Patricia Wetere and friends. Boxes full of used clothing donated by a generous school sponsor was available for whanau to sort through and take home. Encouraging student participation in the organisation and running of Hauora Day activities empowered students to be pro-active in contributing to their school and community. This was another message that the Hauora Day promoted.

Principal Sandra Toapuho says “the attendance we had was pleasing, with a school of 26 families, around 21 parents and 30 students arrived on the day. I thought the stations worked great.  The boxing was awesome, especially because a parent and whanau had taken the lead to organise and run the activity. I also liked the sugary drinks content activity because students were really interested. Matching drinks to sugar content enabled students to be active in their learning, rather than passively sitting and listening to a speaker. It also meant that students had to really think about what each drink contained and how this might impact on the health of their body. It was a good eye-opener for children and for the adults who accompanied each group”.

Teacher Buffy Peita echoes similar thinking and says “the Hauora Day was really great! It had lots of activities, whanau were learning why sugar is not good for them and how it affects their health. They were shocked at the amount of sugar in certain drinks, especially E2 which has a whopping 20 teaspoons in it!. Whanau also thought that poweraid was good for them not realising that it has more sugar than a can of coke. What amazed me is that some whanau didn’t know where milk fit into in terms of being a healthy drink or non-healthy. This gave me an opportunity to let whanau know that milk has calcium to allow students bones to GROW and that we are also a ‘Milk in School’ school. This means we make sure our students are having milk every school day”.

From a student perspective, Lataviah Hugo, year 6 student says “it was cool! I liked the blender bike because I got to make smoothies!”. While year 5 student Mahia Horomona-Wihongi mentions “the smoothies were cool, because the bike made the blender go and it tasted nice! We got to make them with our own choice of yoghurt and fruit and I liked adding strawberries, banana and the vanilla yoghurt”. 

Boxing became the most popular activity as students mentioned that they really liked it, as it was really fun to do. Also popular was the attendance and participation of Northland Taniwha Namatahi Waa, whose whanau are from Pipiwai and whose niece and nephews attend the school.

“It was awesome to see staff encouraging whanau so they are better informed when it comes to making choices about food and staying physically active” says Sport Northland Energizer Paora Simon.  

In summing up the day, Toapuho finishes off by saying “with the support of Sport Northland, other health promoting community agencies and input from parents and students, Te Horo School aims to hold Hauora Days twice a year”.