Welcome to the final 2017 edition of the Play.sport newsletter.It has been tremendously rewarding to see the continued strong progress of Play.sport towards its outcomes of creating quality and engaging PE, sport and physical activity experiences for kids that encourage a lifelong love of participating.

I am pleased that the new Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson has expressed support for Sport NZ's focus on the value of sport and physical activity, particularly in supporting and delivering wider government goals. It will therefore be a priority for us to continue to update him on Play.sport, along with his colleague, our new Education Minister Chris Hipkins, who has a Play.sport site in his Rimutaka constituency and is already familiar with and supportive of this work.

I had the pleasure earlier this month of visiting Henderson Valley School to see Play.sport in action and the engagement and enjoyment evident among the kids was fantastic to see. This is impactful work, with the firm commitment of our Sport NZ Board behind it also. I'm delighted to add that their commitment has been acknowledged with a one year extension of the pilot that will see Play.sport continue in both its current sites of Waitakere and Upper Hutt until December 2019.Enjoy this latest edition of our Play.sport newsletter.

Peter Miskimmin Sport NZ Chief Executive

Feature article

Loose parts

A new process for play that involves 'pods' full of 'loose parts' is delivering an enriched learning opportunity for schools in the Wellington region. Read more

School PE/sport update

Sport NZ is creating a suite of videos that will share the learning of schools who are using the Play.sport approach. In this sneak preview of the first in the series, Henderson Valley school shares the impact of Play.sport.  Watch the video on our website

Insights

Internationally-renowned coach Wayne Goldsmith supports the vision we have here at Sport NZ, and through Play.sport, of providing quality opportunities and support to our young people. Listen to his top tip for those working with kids in sport

Play.sport people profile

Young People Consultant  Chris Crichton

Sport development, education and community development have been woven together throughout the career pathway of Sport NZ young people consultant Chris Crichton - never more so than in his role as project lead for Play.sport. Read more