The initiative will see the Ministries of Education and Health, and Sport NZ, joining together to support schools, kura[1] and early learning services to improve wellbeing through healthy eating and quality physical activity.

Healthy Active Learning is a voluntary initiative, at no cost to schools, kura and early learning services. It contributes to one of the Government’s key priorities – improving the wellbeing of children and young people – and is part of the Government’s Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy.

Sport NZ will partner with six Regional Sports Trusts in Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Gisborne, Northland and Wellington to deliver the Sport NZ component for the initial roll out in 2020-2022. A physical activity workforce will work with approximately 300 primary schools, intermediate schools and kura in these regions in the first three years, before engaging with a further 500 from 2022-2024. The focus will be on deciles one to four.

Regional Sports Trusts are working with Sport NZ and the Ministry of Education to identify what schools and kura the physical activity workforce will work with by the end of 2019.

The initiative starts in January 2020, and has three components to drive better education and health outcomes for young New Zealanders:

• New Health and Physical Education and Hauora curriculum resources (Ministry of Education)
• Toolkits and a health promotion workforce to support the adoption and implementation of healthy food and water-only policies (Ministry of Health)
• A physical activity workforce (Sport NZ)

The new curriculum resources being developed by the Ministry of Education will be available to all schools and kura in Te Reo Māori and English. The toolkits, also being developed in Te Reo Māori and English, will be available to all schools, kura, kōhanga reo and early learning services. A health promotion workforce based in Public Health Units throughout the country will provide practical support to assist education settings to create healthier food environments.

Healthy Active Learning will see regional sports trusts, educators, public health units and government agencies partnering to deliver the best education and health outcomes for children and young people in their region.

To find out more please visit Healthy Active Learning.

[1] The term kura includes settings where Te Reo Māori is the principal language of instruction i.e. Kura Kaupapa Māori, Kura-a-Iwi, Bi-lingual Schools, Reo Rua Kura and Total Immersion Units.