New Water Safety Education Kits for Kohanga Reo

Water Safety NZ in association with ACC and the National Kohanga Reo Trust are pleased to release the latest water safety resource for early childhood education. ‘Te Takaro Haumaru i te Wai’ (Safer Play near Water) was recently launched in Wellington at the National Kohanga Reo office. Kaumatua from Tainui supported the event by accompanying Water Safety NZ and guests to the celebration event. Over the last two years, WSNZ has developed this resource with the assistance of Kohanga Reo teachers and kaumatua from the Waikato region. Its purpose is to teach;

• Concepts of water and water safety in the Maori language

• Primary rule that young children must never be left alone near water

• Water safety activities and strategies for safer play near water

In 2003, WSNZ initiated a water safety strategy to reduce the rate of Maori drowning in New Zealand. In particular, statistics for Maori children under the age of five years were alarming. For instance, 44% of the total drownings of children under five were Maori.  Key factors to surface were lack of adult supervision in and near water as well as limited educational resources written in te reo Maori. Mark Haimona, Water Safety Coordinator, comments, ‘This resource will certainly help to encourage safer play and better supervision of our tamariki & mokopuna near water’. Checklists and take home material for parents and whanau about active supervision and safety near water are also included in the kits. Haimona goes on to say ‘We have been very fortunate to have input into this resource from a wide range of sources and experts who specialize in education for Maori’. The National Kohanga Reo Trust will now begin to distribute this resource ‘Te Takaro Haumaru i te Wai’ to all Kohanga Reo throughout New Zealand. The resource kit contains a colourful A3 picture book about a whanau playing near water, a teacher book of water safety activities and strategies, posters, waiata (songs) and a take home checklist for parents, caregivers and whanau. The kits are currently being promoted through the national Safekids meetings held throughout New Zealand.

Kohanga Reo can contact their NKRT Regional Coordinator for a FREE copy of this resource. Otherwise, contact Mark Haimona on mark@watersafety.org.nz .

 Hawkes Bay Water Safety Workshop

WSNZ Coordinator, Mark Haimona, recently visited the Hawkes Bay region to promote water safety messages and resources for whanau use in and around the home. Sport Hawke’s Bay in association with Te Kupenga Hauora hosted Mark and organised a fantastic workshop for the community. Participants included people working in Injury Prevention, Learn to Swim, Waka Ama, ACC, Community Health Services, Marae, Early Childhood and Kohanga Reo. Mark discussed some of the issues and hazards that people needed to be aware of when recreating in, on and near water. In particular, the dangers of leaving young children unsupervised around water sites within the home such as the bath, swimming pool, spa pool, or water containers such as buckets. A relative new danger is blow up swimming pools which are often left full in the backyard and are easily accessible to young children. The group acknowledged that water plays a big part in our lifestyle choices of recreation in New Zealand whether it be swimming in a river, diving for seafood, boating or fishing in a lake. ‘We encourage people to play in water. It’s a lot of fun but we need to take simple precautions for it to be an enjoyable experience for everyone’. The workshop was also a good opportunity to make community networks with people from the Hawkes Bay region and share ideas on possible projects and workshops for the summer season.

WSNZ would like to thank Char Savage, from Sport Hawke’s Bay and Honoria Ropiha, from Te Kupenga Hauora for organising this workshop. He mihi nui ki a korua, ka wani ke!

Pool Lifeguard Award for Rangatahi

A Rangatahi (youth) Lifeguard Award (RLA) programme has been developed by the Rotorua Aquatic Centre/Recreation Rotorua and will run over the next few weeks. The focus of this programme is for rangatahi to develop the skills and knowledge of performing lifeguard duties.Year 9 and 10 students from Te Kura Kaupapa O Te Koutu have been offered the opportunity to partake in this programme and test their skills. It is envisaged that this programme will be offered to senior students as part of their water safety education in schoosl. WSNZ Regional Coordinator, Mark Haimona supports this initiative as an ideal pathway for rangatahi in the community to gain practical experience and qualification into the aquatic recreation industry. Teachers from the school will assist programme tutors to support a Maori language learning environment for their students. Water Safety New Zealand has identified through Drownbase that the number of Maori who drown each year is disproportionately high. This is a good opportunity to promote a positive water safety message to the Maori community.The photo alongside features Rotorua Aquatic Centre/Recreation Rotorua tutors and students during the first day of the programme.

Tumeke!

Water Safety Role launches Injury Prevention Course

WSNZ Regional Coordinator, Mark Haimona was invited to speak about his role with drowning prevention at a recent course on Injury Prevention held in Hamilton. The Te Aho Tapu, Foundation Certificate in Injury Prevention, is a certificate programme designed to help you get the best start in the field of Injury Prevention. Carol Wrathall, National Manager Maori, Injury Prevention Network Aotearoa, organised the course for participants from a range of organisations involved in injury prevention. The course consists of a four day programme pitched at NZQA levels 3 & 4 made up of 15 credits (four NZQA unit standards) with content that covers aspects such as key concepts of Injury Prevention; Maori model of Hauoratanga; Planning & evaluating projects; Working with communities and Influencing decision-makers. Participants who complete the course gain basic skills to run effective, best practice injury prevention projects as well as a Foundation Certificate. Mark was able to highlight his role with WSNZ and its mission ‘through education prevent drowning in New Zealand and water related injury’. Mark talked about the development and implementation of the ‘Drowning Prevention Strategy’ 2005-2015 which is currently a focus for many of the national organisations involved in the water safety sector. In addition, Mark spoke of his project management role with ‘Kia Maanu, Kia Ora’, the Maori water safety strategy and how WSNZ has evolved this initiative to reach Maori on a national, regional and community level.