Sports boost for six primary schools across the motu – 2024 Big Little winners revealed

Primary schools across Aotearoa rallied their communities to shoot for a share in $26,000 of sports funding offered by AA Insurance’s Big Little Sponsorship – and the winners can now be unveiled.

With a record-breaking 5,500 Big Little nominations this year, Kawerau South School in Bay of Plenty and Birchwood School in Nelson have each brought home a $10,000 sports grant.

Second and third placed schools in the North Island are St Josephs School Waitara (receiving $2,000) and Avon School (receiving $1,000). The South Island’s second place grant went to Isleworth School, and third place to Waimari School.

North Island winner: Kawerau South School, Bay of Plenty

For small town primary school, Kawerau South, winning the Big Little sports grant will play a big role in helping to remove barriers for their 380 ākonga (students).

Tumuaki (Principal) Raylene Gage-Te Hau says, “We all know how important sports is for our physical hauora (wellbeing), but it’s also more than that – it's an opportunity for our kids to be kids and allows our tamariki to have fun, laugh, and most importantly to practice Whanaungatanga. So many life skills are taught through sports that are vital for success in the world we live in today – such as resilience, independence, leadership, decision making and risk taking.”

“Our role as a kura is to ensure our tamariki in our small town of Kawerau are provided with as many sporting opportunities as possible. Due to our demographic makeup and location, this can be really challenging at times. We have many talented athletes in Kawerau, and this grant will help give our tamariki more opportunities to participate in structured sports and out of town events.”

Kawerau South School is hoping to use their $10,000 grant on newly branded sports uniforms, gazebos and contributions towards modes of travel.

South Island winner: Birchwood School, Nelson

Located in Stoke on the outskirts of Nelson city, Birchwood School’s inclusive culture made them a stand-out to the Big Little judges, encouraging their 230 students to participate in sport no matter what a child's ability is.

Tumuaki (Principal) Camilla Brotherton says, “Sport creates a sense of community and is a big part of our culture. We aim to give all our students a chance to participate in sport as it plays a vital role in growing great humans. Sport helps our tamariki regulate their emotions, reset their bodies, and have positive experiences with their peers – this is great for all our students, both neurodiverse and neurotypical.”

“Winning Big Little gives us the means to keep the momentum going for our students' sporting interests – and our soccer-obsessed students are going to be especially thrilled to use some of the grant to replace our current goals that are falling apart,” said Brotherton. “We are extremely grateful to members of our school community who nominated us and to AA Insurance for this amazing grant.”

Big Little ambassador and judge Keven Mealamu said, “Communities really got behind their local primary schools with our highest number of nominations yet – it was no easy feat to find winners with so many worthy nominations! Kawerau South and Birchwood’s focus on inclusion, encouraging participation and strong community values resonated with our judges, and we are grateful to be able to help make a difference for these communities.”

In partnership with Eden Park, Big Little helps Aotearoa’s littlest athletes reach their sporting dreams, giving a boost to grassroots sport in the process. Running since 2018, the Big Little sponsorship has seen $98,000 in sports grants awarded to primary schools across Aotearoa.