Pegasus Post: November 19, 2020

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4 Thursday November 19 2020 Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz PEGASUS POST Preparing young for life’s adversities Myriad groups help keep our community moving. Reporter Bea Gooding speaks to Life Education Trust Canterbury community engagement manager Andy Gray about why the trust has been an iconic fixture in schools for the past 30 years and why he’s involved Could you tell me a bit about what the Life Education Trust does, and how it came to be what it is today in Canterbury? The Life Education Trust started over 30 years ago, which started in Canterbury. There’s now 32 regional trusts across the country, and one national branch. The vision is to inspire tamariki and rangatahi to make positive choices and to give them the power to do that. The trust addresses challenges including obesity, substance use, mental health and well-being and bullying. We operate in three mobile classrooms in Canterbury, they’re like big container shells that have been turned into REWARDING: Life Education Trust Canterbury community engagement manager Andy Gray is passionate about inspiring children to make the right decisions in life. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN classrooms and are moved around different schools – whether it was as far as Omihi in North Canterbury, right down to Rakaia. Whether schools have 35 students or 500 students, we end up making our way there no matter where they are. What issues is the trust currently facing in the wake of Covid-19? Quite a few in all fairness – when Covid-19 hit during the first lockdown, even though we were still continuing to support the teachers and tamariki during lockdown, we didn’t get any school fees come in, and the funders that we usually used were all closed down. It’s been tough, but we managed to get through it and we’re in a better position now. We reached out to a lot of people that have done quite well throughout Covid-19, like supermarkets, and to the Rata Foundation and Lottery Grants Board who have helped us out. With Covid-19 it’s a doubleedged sword. It’s great that we’re busier now and we’re looking to expand to a fourth classroom because of it. But the double-edged side of that sword is obviously with increased demand it means that more people are affected, there are higher anxiety levels. We’ve learned a lot about mental health from the earthquakes in the past 10 years and also the mosque attacks where kids have been affected. Things like a lack of employment that comes from it just filters through to the kids, so we expect to see increased demand over the next few months. The trust has been iconic in Canterbury schools for the past 30 years. What do you attribute towards its success? Obviously, the most memorable thing about Life Education is Harold the Giraffe. But the reason why I think we’re so iconic is because we tend to react to the issues currently at hand. HEAT PUMP SALE NOW ON! Amazin’ Spring Specials!! 90% SubSidy Warmer KiWi HomeS Programme *Eligibility criteria apply • We will offer you the best quality brands and option of heat pump for your home/business • Providing Heat Pump solutions for over 18 years to Cantabrians • We personally guarantee all our products & installs for 5 years (providing annual maintenance has been completed) Phone us today for your free consultation & quote 41A SHAKESPEARE RD, WALTHAM PHONE 03 366 0525 www.enviromaster.co.nz “A local team for local people”
PEGASUS POST Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz Thursday November 19 2020 5 and challenges We don’t get any government or Ministry of Education funding, so we aren’t led by their agenda, and it’s why we’re the number one health education provider. We don’t want to be led by what they want, which is why we work with teachers to adapt [the lesson]. I think that’s what makes us so successful. Why did you decide to join the trust? I’ve got a wee eight-year-old boy and things are a little bit different now than back in my day; kids have got different challenges now, so I just wanted to make sure I was getting in touch with what was going on. Kids seem to be a lot more involved and more aware of what’s happening around them because of social media and access to the internet. That was my excuse to get involved and understand what’s happening in my own child’s head. What are the rewarding parts of your job? The kids – when Harold comes on board, the kids wander in and when they see him, they all get pretty excited to hear what he has to say. It’s the kids’ reactions which I find the most rewarding. Like most jobs, it’s not always fun and games. What can be challenging about your role? I think seeing the statistics that are pretty grim, like when I hear about the teen suicide rates or how many kids are stressed. About 35 per cent of kids are stressed at least once a week. It’s like, bloody hell, these kids are eight or nine-years-old, they shouldn’t be stressed, they should be watching Pokémon on TV or something. Tell me a bit about where life began for you – where did you grow up? How about family? I was born in Salford, United Kingdom. When I was about 13-years-old my folks decided to ship us all over, with my brothers and sister, and start life afresh over here. I ended up going to school down the road at Christchurch Boys’ High School, and eventually at the University of Canterbury. After travelling overseas for a while, I came back and became the director at Specsavers (Papanui) after opening up a franchise here. After selling that I was lucky that I had a bit more free to pick and choose the jobs I wanted to do, and that’s when the Life Education Trust job came up. ICON: The Life Education Trust has been visiting Canterbury schools for more than 30 years. My two brothers live in Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast in Australia. My sister is here in Christchurch so she’s not very far from me, and my parents are retired now and live in the Hurunui District. Do you remember much from life back in England? I remember quite a lot of it. It’s quite a rough spot where we were, a lot of cars were being nicked every night and there were a lot of fights, you could just watch it from your window - that’s what it was all to me. One of my favourite parts about my home town is the football, everyone enjoyed a bit of soccer. You could play it in the streets, you’d just jump over the back fence after school and go play with your friends in the streets. Aside from your work, what do you like to do in your spare time? I enjoy any sport, especially soccer being English and all. I’ve always the idea of making something myself so I make short films on the side. I make any type of short film, it’s just a matter of writing a script and trying to gain funding to do it. I’ve always loved movies, the idea for me growing up was to become either a football player, a fireman or a moviemaker. When we call, hundreds of Kiwi businesses answer. At Fire and Emergency, 80% of our people are volunteers, many running or working at businesses just like this. In an emergency, their businesses proudly allow them to rush out and help. LOOK FOR THIS MARK
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Pegasus Post: November 19, 2020

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