A rural primary school in South Canterbury has adapted their school athletics day to better meet the needs of all their tamariki on a day that can often leave some children feeling discouraged.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many things over the last two years – especially sport, physical activity, and active recreation. In the face of adversity, St Andrews Primary School has used the cancelation of their annual Rural Schools Athletics Day to develop an Athletics Carnival that is more inclusive and is focussed on fun and teamwork while incorporating the fundamental run, jump, throw skills of athletics. 

St Andrews Primary School has recently come onboard with Sport New Zealand’s Healthy Active Learning (HAL) initiative which focuses on tamariki wellbeing, providing them with quality physical activity experiences and supporting schools in delivering healthy food and water only policies. 

South Canterbury-based Healthy Active Learning Facilitator, Sam Mathewson has worked in conjunction with the Healthy Active Learning Lead at the school, Sam Johnson and Principal, Murray Davidson to develop this carnival.

“The St Andrews team has joined Phase Two of the Healthy Active Learning initiative and are going to be working with us for the next two years. Coming into the school, one of the first things coming up in the calendar was athletics and with the current environment, their big Rural School Athletics had been cancelled,” says Mathewson

“We have worked together with Healthy Active Learning today to create an Athletics Carnival with a focus on run, jump, throw skills with a more play and game-based approach than traditional athletics day events. This was originally to go alongside our normal-structured athletics sports like long jump, high jump and shot put etc, but with the Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns we haven’t been able to run our competitive athletics - but we have still been able to give this a shot today,” adds Johnson.

The main goal of this adapted format is to create an environment where all tamariki feel confident to take part and give these activities a go.

“Sam and Murray came to me and asked what we could do to create a fun and more inclusive athletics day, compared to traditional athletics as they were very aware that there is often a lot of time spent sitting in lines and waiting for turns. They wanted their kids to have a really fun-filled day with the opportunity to try athletics, as well as a focus on enhancing leadership within the school, creating an enjoyable experience for everyone,” says Mathewson.

“What we wanted to achieve was to have all of our children taking part. We often get some tamariki who will get a letter from mum and dad to say they won’t come – because it’s too much of a challenge or it’s just not them. Whereas, if we make it a fun day, we get everyone turning up – which is what we want.

“Our attendance for this event was 99% and we know those four children were actually sick.
So that is remarkable really,” adds Davidson.

The day included a range of activities and games with a focus on the fundamental movement skills of run, jump, throw. With the favourites from the day including throwing a Mega Howler and obstacle course-style relays to a large game of noughts and crosses with bean bags and a huge slippery slide. 

Both Johnson and Davidson are very happy with how the day went and are thrilled to have seen some of their tamariki step outside of their comfort zone.

“Everyone seems to be having a great time – lots of participation, it seems everyone is joining in – it’s been really good to see mixed teams with the older kids helping with the younger kids and everyone is giving everything a go,” says Johnson.

While Davidson adds, “It’s been a great day, my teacher Sam, has done a great job organising this, thinking outside the square and using Sport Canterbury to help with those ideas. We’ve gone with some less traditional activities; we’ve looked at changing things up a wee bit so that every child can take part and every child can have fun. It’s been really good to have mixed age-groups because you see the best of our senior children come out with the little children and they just shine – they really do shine.”

The tamariki at the school also enjoyed a more relaxed, and stress-free event where they got to focus on not only having fun but enjoying spending time with each other.

With the aim of meeting the needs of the students and creating an event that was enjoyed by all, St Andrews took the time to gather feedback from their senior students to see what they thought of the day. The data from the survey really emphasises the vibe from the day with over 75% of students saying they ‘enjoyed it the same or more than traditional athletics’ and 87% saying they would like to do it again next year. 

“The changes today have been very different because usually we have running and high jump etc, but today it’s more about teamwork and that’s what I like about it,” says Miles.

While Ella and Digby add, “It’s been really fun because you get to hang out with the whole school and you get to learn without being pressured, it’s all about fun.”

“There are a lot more activities, they’re not as competitive and they’re more fun."

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Article added: Wednesday 08 December 2021