Recipient Story: Life Education

When Educator, Amy Pateman, told her 23 year old step daughter she was going to be working for Life Education, she exclaimed “Oh Harold, I loved Harold... does he still smell good?” Showing that Harold evokes long lasting memories of learning through all the senses.

Those memories are created by Specialist Educators that provide schools with unique lessons to meet their children’s learning needs. Covering those challenging topics that our children and young people face today, including: relationships with food, substance use, mental health and well-being and bullying. These factors are key to The Life Education Trust's mission of inspiring tamariki and rangitahi to make positive choices.

It is great that children can recollect the key points from the lessons 3, 4 and 5 years on - as well as remembering Harold's famous jokes.” - Amy Pateman, Educator

After two terms with Life Education, Amy is constantly amazed at the messaging the children recall from previous years. As well as remembering some of Harold's famous jokes. It's great that children can recollect the key points from the lessons 3, 4 and 5 years ago. Amy believes it’s a combination of factors that create these long-lasting memories. First being that the children are engaged the minute they walk in with the different space and the cool technology and of course the Giraffe that smells wonderful....Harold!

After two terms with Life Education, Amy is constantly amazed at the messaging the children recall from previous years. As well as remembering some of Harold's famous jokes. It's great that children can recollect the key points from the lessons 3, 4 and 5 years ago.

Amy believes it’s a combination of factors that create these long-lasting memories. The first being that the children are engaged the minute they walk in with the different spaces and the cool technology and of course, the Giraffe that smells wonderful....Harold!

“I love Harold - He's my best friend.” - Student

Life Education has been operating in Mid and South Canterbury for over 30 years and visits 8,000 children annually. They offer schools two lessons per class in their own mobile classroom. This is made possible by local trucking companies who move the classroom, sometimes daily, to help reach the smaller rural schools that might otherwise miss out due to distance.

Life Education is very grateful for the local support they receive, and for the awesome team they have behind them. Their Trust is made up of volunteers who govern and assist with grant applications, fundraising events, and promotions. This small group of volunteers are very committed to ensuring Harold and his messages remain in our schools for many years to come.

How the Aoraki Foundation helped:

Through the generosity of our donors, the South Canterbury Health Endowment Fund and Miller General Impact Fund provided Life Education with a grant of $10,000 towards educator salaries.