Bilingual Health Resources for Our School

FOREARMED: Heart Foundation Southland health promtions co-ordinator Stella O'Connor and New River Primary pupils (from left) Blade Walker, 9, Mia Henry, 10, and Brody Miller, 11, with the new bilingual health FOREARMED: Heart Foundation Southland health promotions co-ordinator Stella O'Connor and New River Primary pupils (from left) Blade Walker, 9, Mia Henry, 10, and Brody Miller, 11, with the new bilingual health resources they received. 

 Low-decile Southland primary schools will have a new bilingual health resource in time for Maori Language Week. Heart Foundation Southland health promotions co-ordinator Stella O'Connor presented the Hauora Hautipua books to New River Primary yesterday. Twenty low-decile primary schools in Southland will receive the books over the next week. Ms O'Connor said she believed the books were needed in the south. She applied for a grant through the Southern District Health Board's Healthy Eating Healthy Action (HEHA) and received funding for 20 sets of books to be given to low-decile Southland schools. The books, which cover the four seasons, follow superheroes Maui and Hina and look at traditional Maori concepts, incorporating health and nutrition messages, she said. The messages promoted healthier lifestyles, diet and exercise to whanau and the wider community, and a teachers' guide had suggestions on further teaching on the topic with links to the curriculum, Ms O'Connor said. "Education can play a key role in tackling the spiralling rates of obesity and diabetes in New Zealand, and sadly the rates are even higher among Maori and Pacific communities." The books, which were released by the Heart Foundation to celebrate Maori Language Week, can be bought from the foundation. Adapted from an original resource developed by Te Hotu Manawa Māori and Robyn Kahukiwa, the books also aim to improve Maori literacy. The foundation was developing a storyboard format for early childhood centres, Ms O'Connor said. New River principal Elaine McCambridge said it was always wonderful to get new resources for the school, especially those related to health promotion. "We are a health-promoting school and it all ties in with that at New River," she said. It was important to have resources such as the Hauora Hautipua books, which were in a format children could understand and relate to, she said. Maori Language Week, Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2012, runs from Monday to Sunday next week.