Life skills taught by video

The organisers of a programme designed to teach kids resilience have jumped at the opportunity to reach students online throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

The Graeme Dingle Foundation delivers three life skills programmes to Marlborough students.

Its Kiwi Can programme, which operates in 15 Marlborough primary schools, has continued to deliver content to students through short videos.

Kiwi Can leader Fili Fotu-moala says he misses seeing students face to face, but making videos allowed the organisation to reach the students’ families as well.

‘‘It’s not just the kids – it could be their parents as well. So that’s quite cool,’’ said Fotu-moala, who is in his second year as a Kiwi Can leader.

The short videos have been released on Facebook every day of the school holidays, with some delivering messages on topics such as kindness, and others teaching dance or exercise.

‘‘It keeps them busy as well as keeping us busy,’’ Fotu-moala said.

Kiwi Can would look to deliver its term two content online. Lesson plans had already been written and Fotu-moala said they would be especially applicable in the global pandemic. ‘‘At the moment we’re working on resilience,’’ he said.

Graeme Dingle Foundation regional manager Kelvin Watt said he was proud of how quickly the team had adapted to the lockdown restrictions. The first Kiwi Can video was up within days of schools closing, and Watt said his own daughters asked every morning when a new video would be out.

One of the foundation’s strengths was its emphasis on community, and they had strived to keep kids connecting with familiar faces even during the pandemic.

‘‘We wanted to keep the connection between our Kiwi Can leaders and the kids at this time. It’s having those leaders that are really well known in the community.’’

The foundation’s two other programmes would also continue to operate online. The peer mentorship programme Stars would use the Google Classroom platform to connect with Marlborough Girls College students.

The Career Navigator programme, which was at all three Marlborough colleges, would most likely be available through a Facebook group, Watt said.

‘‘You can talk about aspects of resilience and stuff, but they’re living it now and it will be something they can reflect on as we move on,’’ he said.