HA Jack Primary School in Highlands North was teeming with excitement when 120 Grade 3 learners participated in the Mini Olympics.
This event was the culmination of over eight months of practice, thanks to a sports literacy course run by the Achieve It Charitable Trust and their Move-It, Moving Matters learner-driven, physical activity programme, in partnership with the FirstRand Volunteers Programme.
Volunteers from the FirstRand Group underwent the relevant Move-It training after which each particular franchise spent five consecutive weeks with the children.
According to the organisers, the children improved their gross motor skills with various activities such as juggling, skipping, kicking and ball skills.
Assessments were conducted on all the children prior to each five weeks course, with post-assessments yielding some fantastic results.
Many volunteers reported huge improvements in ball skills and coordination, but more importantly, the growth in the children’s confidence and learning to work as part of a team is what has really left an impression on both the learners and the volunteers.
“It is about learning how they can use these skills to realise their talent and gifts and grow in confidence,” said Desiree Storey, manager of the FirstRand Volunteers Programme.
“This initiative is a great opportunity for the FirstRand volunteers to do something that resonates with them, with many of today’s volunteers being avid sports enthusiasts themselves. This is one of the cornerstones of the FirstRand volunteers’ programme, to match employees with causes that they are passionate about.”
Dr Claire Nicholson, the founder of the Move-It, Moving Matters™ programme is a thought leader on the advantages of exercise and physical activity in the context of education, therapy, leisure and high-performance sport. She thanked the volunteers for helping these children improve their gross motor skills.
“Move-It is a very systematic, very scientific programme that unfolds the motoric competence of children at an age-appropriate level.
“Every single child in this programme has advanced motorically, as we would expect them to do if they were to be matched with counterparts from around the world…we can walk away from this particular grade knowing that these children are properly developed both physically and motorically in the course of one year, and that is awesome.”
She added that, for a school without any regular physical education classes, this initiative has undoubtedly had a profound effect on these children.
This initiative will spring back into action on January 2020 when the next intake of Grade 3 learners will experience just how much moving really matters.
Details: firstrandvolunteers@firstrand.co.za
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