At Waipukurau School in Hawke’s Bay, ākonga are taking up boxing in a programme that is showing how quality sport experiences at school can boost attendance and engagement in learning.

It’s 11.30am on Friday at Waipukurau School. A group of Year 5 and 6 boys are eagerly waiting for access to the school hall which, for the next hour, will be transformed into a boxing gym.

The ākonga are part of a programme called ‘Mauria Te Pono – Believe in Yourself’ where, under the mentorship of local boxing coach Matua Edz and Sport Hawke’s Bay Healthy Active Learning lead Dani Paki, they punch pads and talk about what they are enjoying or finding difficult at school and home.

“Mauria Te Pono is about building students’ belief and trust in themselves and then noticing how good they feel as a result of physical movement,” says Dani. “Then it’s about taking that into the playground.”

The weekly sessions started last year after the school contacted Dani and her team for support with a group of boys struggling with school, attendance, behaviour, and self-regulation. This year, the school was able to buy their own boxing equipment through the Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa fund.

A positive difference in the classroom

The impact of the programme at Waipukurau is impressive.

Dani says one student, who had previously been stood down, entered their first year of intermediate motivated and engaged in learning. Another has learned to articulate his feelings when frustrated, and several others have shown improvements in their numeracy and literacy because they’re able to focus better.

The results they’re seeing support Sport NZ research that shows the importance of physical activity for the developing brain and cognitive functioning. There is also a clear link between sport and higher academic performance, attendance rates, punctuality and fewer standdowns.

Dani says the beauty of the programme is how adaptable it is to the needs of ākonga. Based around the health promotion framework Te Pae Māhutonga, Mauria Te Pono was initially developed to support primary schools affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.

One of these was Westshore School where, in order to feel safe in and near water again, Mauria Te Pono sessions were focused on learning poi and the atua Tangaroa (Māori god of the sea) and Tāwhirimātea (Māori god of the wind).

Year 6 student Ben is part of the programme at Waipukurau this year. He says he learns better when he’s moving, which is why he likes Mauria Te Pono.

“It’s not boring. You are not sitting inside listening to the teacher talk. You are outside having fun,” he says, adding that he never misses a day of school when it’s on.

Ben also says physical activity gives him energy so that when he returns to the classroom, he is alert and able to take in more information.

Fostering tuakana-teina relationships

Regardless of the needs of each school and student, Dani says the goal of Mauria Te Pono and her mahi through Healthy Active Learning is simple: she wants young people to know that play, sport, and physical activity can make them feel better and learn better.

That extends to kaiako – Dani encourages them to use short, sharp movement breaks to support engagement in the classroom.

“I’m all about getting out into te taiao (the environment),” she says.

Acting deputy principal at Waipukurau School Kathryn Donnithorne says the intention has always been for the programme to foster tuakana-teina relationships for her ākonga. Those involved become the leaders of the programme and kaitiaki of the values it teaches the following year.

Year 8 student Ezra is an example of this: part of last year’s cohort, this year he’s started coaching younger students’ basketball at lunchtime. He says he wouldn’t have started that up without Mauria Te Pono, which taught him “to just get it done”.

Ezra hadn’t tried boxing until last year but says that it is a good sport to let anger out. He says when he was first told to go to the office and heard about the programme, he thought he was in trouble.

“And then I got put in the group and then ever since, on Thursdays, I always came to school.”

Kathryn is proud but not surprised by Ezra’s success this year.

“He was chosen for the programme because he has so much leadership potential in him. He’s a very good basketball player himself, and now he’s using those skills to teach others.”

She says the key to students attending and enjoying school is making sure it’s a safe environment where they feel a sense of belonging. Quality and regular sport and physical activity opportunities can play a big part in that, as shown by the success of Mauria Te Pono.

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This article was originally published in the Education Gazette, 19 September 2024