Educator sought for second mobile life education classroom
A second valuable Life Education Trust Heartland mobile classroom has finally been purchased specifically for the Queenstown Lakes-Central Otago area, enabling the trust to reach an extra 5000 students a year.
Life Education Trust Heartland Otago Southland administrator Dana Young says there’s been such demand that for the past five or six years the one mobile truck on a trailer classroom has only been able to cater for each school biennially. “We’ve been operating at capacity and are totally booked up so with the second classroom that should free up more time and flexibility,” says Dana.
Population growth across the region means there are more schools and more students. “We just can’t fit everyone in with one educator and one classroom,” she says. “It’s our mission to see every school visited annually. We just haven’t been able to do that for a long time.”
The trust is advertising for a part-time registered teacher educator to operate the second bus, which should be in action locally by the start of Term 4 after refurbishment is completed. Purchased from the Western Bay of Plenty Trust for $50,000 after years of fundraising, the total expansion will cost $160,000 all up with the trust contributing $120,000 and Central Lakes Trust stumping up the remaining $40,000.
Founded 25 years ago, the mobile classroom and its ‘Harold the Giraffe’ mascot has been a hit with kids aged from five to 13 all over the trust region from Dunedin to Central Otago, the Wakatipu and south to Gore, providing vital health and well-being education in a fun, interactive, age-appropriate way. The highly-trained educators deliver individualised lessons for each school on topics like how brilliant the human body is, healthy food nutrition and lifestyle, relationships and communities, resilience, coping mechanisms and identities. Digital citizenship and online safety are also covered and educators tailor the lessons to any particular issues, such as bullying, that certain schools may be facing, says Dana. There’s been more demand for greater focus on the resilience, coping and mental health theme since Covid struck in 2020, she says.
The classrooms are fitted out with the latest state of the art education technology and are designed to be a place where special things happen for kids, with the likes of stars on the ceiling. “Kids feel really safe in there. It’s a really special highlight that they look forward to.” The aim is that each child gets two to three sessions a year.
Current educator Pip Tisdall, who’s based in Lawrence, has been doing a sterling job catering for all the schools in the region for 16 years and will train the second educator to be dedicated to Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago. Dana says Pip’s passion for education and dedication to the kids of the region is unparalleled. “We’re excited for her to share her knowledge and skills and to work alongside our new educator during the training process.”
Trust chair Tracey van Herel says the new mobile classroom and additional educator would help the Trust to achieve its mission of empowering children to make positive choices for their health and well-being. “We are thrilled to be able to expand our reach and provide more children in our region with the tools and knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their health and well-being,” she says. The programme will be delivered to more schools, more frequently.
To get in touch: heartland@lifeedtrust.org.nz
