Ten Years on, Health And Fitness Programme a Quiet Revolution
Pirongia School in the Waikato has thrown out pizza and fish and chips in the tuck shop, in favour of healthier wraps,
baked potatoes, veggie fried rice and waffles with yoghurt.
In doing so, it’s joined a list of 290 Waikato, Northland and Auckland primary schools that have implemented a programme
to change nutritional and exercise habits for primary school aged children.
Sport Waikato’s, Project Energize – 10 years old in 2015, began as a randomised control trial in schools, via
significant funding from the Waikato District Health Board. Project academic leader Professor Elaine Rush, from AUT University, who is also a Principal Investigator with Gravida
(the Government’s centre of research excellence in growth and development), has been able to prove the programme has
made a difference to the fitness of children in the age group.
ends