From the classroom to the playing fields, teachers are leading the way in school sports, writes the Howick and Pakuranga Principals Association (HPPA) executive team.
The Howick and Pakuranga Principals Association (HPPA) is a cluster of 43 primary, intermediate and secondary schools representing a student population of just over 34,000 students from our local east Auckland area.
The HPPA is a strong professional organisation with a long history of representing principals from the area at regional and national level to ensure that our schools have a collective voice.
One key area of the association’s work is to provide a wide range of sporting opportunities for the students in our primary schools.
Every year, teachers and principals in our 30 primary schools organise 27 different events and tournaments across the summer and winter codes.
These include but are not limited to softball, cricket, hockey, soccer, rugby, swimming, athletics, cross-country running, gymnastics, netball and touch rugby.
The sporting events held are at both a participatory and competitive level for boys, girls and mixed teams to cater for all the different sporting levels of our students.
The HPPA believes that sport plays a crucial role in primary school education and that many children both thrive and excel at these inter-school events.
Involvement in playing sports contributes to both the physical and personal development of our students.
Key benefits include promoting regular physical activity, teaching children how to work as part of a team, as well as learning the values of fairness, respect, and integrity.
Sportsmanship teaches them to respect rules, opponents, and officials.
We believe we have one of the best primary school sports programmes on offer in Auckland.
All the sporting events are organised and funded by the schools who are part of the association.
This would not be possible without the support of the principals and the dedicated teachers in every school who organise and run these events.
Their efforts have provided the students with wonderful opportunities to engage in healthy competition, learn important life skills and create lasting memories.
The commitment, passion, giving of their time and expertise that teachers bring to making these events happen is truly appreciated by students, parents and our association.
The HPPA looks forward to continuing to provide these great sporting opportunities for our students for many years to come.
