Kaikohe East School have been very busy in term three. The main focus was building the children’s fitness, in preparation for the schools cross country and also inter-schools competition. Each class had fitness sessions modelled which assists the teachers to be able to increase their knowledge and confidence to try something different. “The children absolutely love it.  There are some very energetic children at Kaikohe East, and sometimes a 30 minute session is not long enough, however they love it when I bring my music along” says Gina Matiu, Energizer at Sport Northland.

Healthy eating sessions have been delivered with each class, including information on sugary drinks and breakfast cereals. “The children get a lot of value from these sessions and are interested to learn. They also take what they learn home, which is a great way to get the messages home to their caregivers” says Matiu. Following the sugary drinks session, the children in Room 14 designed a power point to summarise their learnings.  Gina says “I was blown away with what they had retained and it was so great to see the children using their own initiative.

“To wind up the sugary drinks session, the class made smoothies with some milk and left over fruit supply to reinforce the goodness in milk and fruit which went down very well with the students - they loved the taste and wanted more” says Matiu.”

Gina says “I love working at this school. The atmosphere here is great and I enjoying seeing the children have so much fun”.

Pictured right – Energizer Gina Matiu with Principal Chicky Rudkin and Lead Teacher Rebecca Croucher