About Life Education Heartland Otago Southland 

Life Education are a nationwide educational charitable organisation, with 33 different regional trusts operating across the country. We are The Heartland Otago Southland Trust who operate through the "heartland" of Otago and Southland -  Makarora to Milton, Glenorchy to Gore, Mosgiel and the Maniototo. 
                                                   
Using our mobile classroom, Harold the Giraffe, and our highly experienced Educator we visit schools across our region delivering The Healthy Harold programme. We support children to:

        Develop life skills relating to their health and wellbeing   
        Understand how to make healthy choices
        Gain knowledge about health and their bodies
        Develop self esteem and a positive understanding of themselves
        Develop strategies for relating to others

As a snapshot of the work that our Educator (Pip), and Harold, do in our region - last year the classroom visited 58 schools in our trust’s area. In round figures, our Educator delivered 1006 individualised lessons to 6841 children in that period. Over a two year period we reach 71 out of 78 primary and intermediate schools across our region - a phenomenal reach for a community organisation! 

We have made an ongoing commitment to the community and have significantly increased our capacity in 2023, by purchasing a second mobile classroom, a second tractor unit, and employing a second educator. This will allow us the capacity to see an extra 5000 children per year, as well as provide more flexibility in timing for our schools. We are excited to be able to extend our reach and see more children, every year. 

The vision of Life Education is to enable children to reach their full potential. We aim to reach every primary school child in our area with the purpose of educating and inspiring generations to embrace positive choices for a healthy mind and body - BUT we need your help to do this!!

It costs over $200,000 per year for the Heartland Trust to provide its valuable services. With NO Government funding, it is vital that the community served by Life Education helps us to deliver the program. To continue to deliver our exceptional experiences, we need your support to remain relevant, while also extending our reach to impact even more children.                                                                                                                           

Our Trustees are from throughout the region, and are very committed to looking after Harold, Pip and the mobile classroom, so that they can bring the important Life Education messages to all of our schools. If you are interested in joining the Trust in a governance role, and have the skills we require (event management and asset management) please email: heartland@lifeedtrust.org.nz                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Our impact and outcomes

As health education specialists, our goal is consistent with the NZ Curriculum; to equip children with the knowledge and skills so they can make informed decisions. Over time, informed decisions will lead to positive changes in society.

For over 24 years our Healthy Harold Programme has been supporting children in the Heartland region to navigate the challenges of our complex and changing society. 

An NZCER review of the Healthy Harold programme found Life Education performed well on key indicators that reveal value in the classroom, in particular the educators’ strong expertise in health, engaging style and programme content.

View the Healthy Harold Impact and Outcomes