As Graeme puts it: “The primary thrust and the predominant programmes will be all about community health and wellness, through highly structured programmes on healthy eating, health cooking, healthy food shopping and active recreation for life.” According to one presentation: “… the Centre’s true impact will be through professional staff working with preschools, schools and community networks to promote greater knowledge, change attitudes and create new behaviours to achieve healthy lifestyles.” And: “Community health and fitness programmes will be professionally developed and delivered based on best evidence from research, and supervised by certified instructors/coaches.” I interviewed two of the ‘advance troops’ already working to give substance to the Centre’s on-the-ground programme. Both work at the coal face, and are passionate about the broad beneficial impact they see physical activity programmes have on the children and youth they work with. Wendy Pirie has 20 years experience in exercise training and health science, and a master’s degree in child development. She currently runs TimberNook, which offers nature-based child development programmes, and previously was early childhood development officer at Sport Hawke’s Bay. She knows how to get kids moving!
Wendy’s been tapped to help research existing local and national programmes and educational tools that are working best to foster physical activity and sound nutrition for young children. She notes that roughly 90% of young children nationally are participating in an early learning facility of some sort. “We need to get the best available, evidence-based information into families using all channels, from books to social media.” “We have some great organisations working alongside young children and their families, whānau in Hawke’s Bay across health, sport and social welfare. We’re identifying what’s in place and what we will need to provide … and we’ll pull together all the agencies doing this work into one united group … this hasn’t been done before.” As Wendy sees it, the pathway – a broad “physical literacy” programme – extends from in-utero support to developing elite sport talent, with the ‘bricks and mortar’ Centre offering every child in Hawke’s Bay access to facilities to achieve their fullest potential without needing to leave the region – “the opportunity to aspire”. Wendy is in the ‘inventorying’ stage of her work, but plans are to have the Centre’s first pilot programmes – both physical activity and nutrition-based – into place by year’s end, working with selected early childhood centres and primary schools.
Photo: Sarah Cates
“We’re identifying what’s in place and what we will need to provide … and we’ll pull together all the agencies doing this work into one united group … this hasn’t been done before.” WENDY PIRIE, TIMBERNOOK
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