I received an email, recently asking "Pt England Netball - how do you do it?" as the person was investigating around low decile schools and their participation in sport. Pt England is a school that they always referred to as a school that is low decile but is so active with their netball at the Auckland Netball Courts. This post is a response to that email with a few bits that I've added.
Basically, it's hard work and it takes a 'whole village' to make things happen, but it's worth it. Bottom line is that we don't want our children and families to miss out due to financial reasons. The 'investment' in to our netball programme is not just about the children, but it's about strengthening our relationships with our parents, and empowering them to "look up" and be engaged with the community. We find it rewarding when families see the joy on their child's face, their connection to team-mates and their potential for a better future. It is also about empowering our volunteers and staff in sports coaching and management.
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| 4 years later: from the 7 players above, in 2019, the GS plays in the Year 8 A team (A grade, section 2) and was in the Development Programme this year. The C & GA play for one of our Year 7 teams in the C grade. The GK is not playing this year to focus on school work. The 2 non-bibbed players plus the first player on the far left now attend other schools. |
FEES
For several years each player paid $60. Each time the fees went up, we cringed and we reluctantly increased it to $70. That would only cover the fees. We add up all the team fees plus the umpire fees for Years 5-8 (we book ANC umpires because we can rely on umpires showing up) and this puts less pressure on our volunteer coaches who are already doing almost everything...Fees are paid at the school office by cash or eftpos or online through internet banking. In November or December each year, we have a school-family consultation meeting (about the curriculum subjects, camps, sports fees etc), where we decide on how much to set the fees for our netball teams. Feedback from families is that they need a lot of notice about fees and due dates. A lot of parents like the part payment option, to be given the opportunity to pay it off on a regular basis, example $5 a week or when they get some extra money, they chuck it on their fees. It takes a few families 3 terms to pay off their fees (Terms 1-3). When the season is over, we stop giving friendly reminders.
So with this kind of payment structure, we pay the full fees in May (when it's due to the ANC) and the umpire fees out of our sports budget, which leaves hardly anything left for other codes/equipment etc. When parents pay their fees, they are putting money back into our sports budget.
UNIFORMS
Since our sports budget becomes smaller after paying the netball fees, we don't have enough to purchase new uniforms. Our Year 4 & 5 teams are basically wearing uniforms that we've had for about 20 years. The seniors are wearing cheap ones that we got on sale at Postie Plus several years ago and are falling apart. I am currently looking for grant funding to purchase new uniforms for all of our teams. What's very urgent is uniforms for our senior teams (Years 5-8). Our older girls feel more comfortable in wearing skirts and tops that are a size bigger than what they are. Dresses tend to creep up and become 'too short'. Our Year 1 to 4 students wear dresses and love that.
DONATIONS/SPONSORS/FUNDRAISERS
It's been a few years since I've ordered brand new netballs. We have been using second hand netballs that have been donated by people in the wider community (former netball coaches) and the ANC (through lost property) or we have re-used what we had the previous year.
We have a few fundraisers during the year such as the running the Weetbix kids triathlon car park, a cake stall and sausage sizzles during the breaks at school.
The Variety Club NZ - they're awesome. The money that people donate to the club is available for eligible parents to pay off their netball fees, to purchase any netball shoes or a school sports hoody. Parents have to apply for this funding.
Staff members tend to pay for students with hardship circumstances.
Shoes - strangers and staff members donate used shoes that I keep in a box at school. They are given out to players who don't have any shoes and for ones who 'forget' them on 'netball day'. Any spares are given out to other school students in need of shoes. Their feet are growing all the time.
VOLUNTEERS
Like any sporting code, no coach - no team. We are so blessed to have the majority of our teams coached by staff members who volunteer their spare time. They are awesome. The other teams are coached by a parent, older siblings/cousins and former students and we really value their contribution. Many of them are new to coaching but want to give it a go so that their child and their friends don't miss out. That's a heart of gold in our community. However new volunteers can come with a wide range of personal, sporting experience, hence why I try to buddy up coaches with a staff member so that everything can run smoothly - our staff members know each student, their story and are more able handle tricky issues. Our staff members are also modelling how to be professional, inclusive, positive and encouraging. We are working with the children AND our families.
MY ROLE
My role is that I coordinate the whole programme and help resolve any issues, with the support of our senior management team (Assistant Principal & Principal). I am also Plan C for everything. Coach is Plan A, Manager is Plan B. If neither of them can make it to a game or take a training - I am plan C. I co-coach a team on Tuesdays so I won't get to see all of the other teams play but I will be there on Thursdays from the first round to the last to offer support and encouragement. I love watching our students play.
2019 TEAMS
We are looking at having 15 teams this year - so far it looks like this:
1. Year 1 - coached & managed by 2 teachers
2. Year 2 - coached & managed by 2 teachers & a Year 7 student
3. Year 3 - coached & managed by 2 teachers
4. Year 4-1 - coached & managed by a former teacher & her Year 7 daughter
5. Year 4 - coached & managed by 2 teachers
6. Year 4 - coached by 2 awesome mums
7. Year 5 - coached & managed by 2 teachers
8. Year 5 - coached by our AP & another teacher is the manager
9. Year 6 - coached by a support teacher & managed by a dad
10. Year 6 - coached & managed by 2 teachers
11. Year 7 - coached by 2 former students, current staff members (no siblings in the team)
12. Year 7 - coached by a mum, managed by a teacher
13. Year 7 - coached by an older cousin, managed by a teacher
14. Year 8 - coached by a teacher & managed by a couple of people i.e. our Board of Trustees Chairperson (dad), office staff member and former coach (who is having a baby in March)
15. Year 8 - co-coached & managed by 2 teachers (including myself)
GAME DAY ROUTINES
Straight after school, all teams meet in the hall for a 10 minute briefing. They sit in team lines, I take the roll call & give them reminders e.g. short nails, sportsmanship etc - parents are usually there & I give them reminders too. After 10 minutes, one team at a time will collect a piece of donated fruit from the front of the hall and will go to their coaches to a space in the hall (this 10-15 minutes gives teachers time to get to the hall after they lock up their classrooms etc). We had a grandmother who baked cookies for every junior team for the past 6 years. Each child would get a cookie and a piece of fruit as their snack before the game. Often with games after 5:00 p.m. - players are sent home to be dropped back off to the court half an hour before their game. Student without a ride will be picked up by the coach or manager.
COMMUNICATION
Google spreadsheets and documents are our best friends. I have a google spreadsheet with all the team and player information, key dates, fees paid, uniform allocation, results, players of the day etc.
I give out weekly newsletters on Mondays. Team captains collect them from my office at 2:30pm to deliver to their team-mates. Spare ones are left in a cubby hole outside my office for those who may have missed out. I have a large, visible notice board outside my office with the team lists and draws and also in the staffroom & the school office. Coaches send team reminders by creating their own newsletters or by text. I text / email / or talk face to face weekly with volunteer coaches and managers, to check on how they're doing, so they feel supported and also get the latest news/updates from the ANC.
CELEBRATION
Weekly school assembly on Friday mornings. Players of the day receive a certificate in front of the whole school and stand up on the stage with other recipients.
Our own netball prizegiving is in late September on a Thursday night to coincide with pay day (not Monday to Wednesday). Families and staff bring a plate of food to share. School provides the beverages. Each student receives a participation certificate and a lolly necklace. Three extra awards are given out from each team:
1. Most Improved
2. Sportsmanship
3. Most Valuable Player
Each team says their team chant and presents their coaches and managers with a thank you card and any gifts they can manage to put together. This is an opportunity to thank other people and advertise for new volunteers.
In December, we have a special Volunteers Morning Tea shout where all of our coaches are invited to this. Team photos are taken at the end of the season. Parents purchase these from Photolife for $15 or $17 depending on the size.
TRANSPORT
We are blessed to be 5 minutes down the road from school. Our staff and available parents transport the students to the courts from school (those who play after 5:00 p.m. have to go home then meet at the courts - sometimes our staff pick them up from home). Parents are expected to pick their child up from the courts. But we make sure that we support the mums and families who don't have vehicles or have little ones and can't leave home to pick their child up We don't have any school vans however our Associate Principal kindly allows us to use his van to drop off teams to the court. We have a few parents and students who walk to and from the courts. We try to avoid this happening because it's cold and too wet on some days and it can be a bit of a walk, especially if they live on the other side of Glen Innes. No one gets left behind at the courts. On their permission slips, there's a bit where I ask parents if their child can't be picked up or dropped off, would they give permission for the staff and other parents to do so. Some parents indicate that they strictly go home with family only. We try to always cover ourselves.
There are other things that we do that's tailored to our school community. But essentially, there's a lot of people involved in making this work for our students. Fees, transport and lack of volunteers are obstacles for low decile communities. We are fortunate that I am also employed full time to look after our sports programme (we have 9 rugby teams and 5 basketball teams plus other sporting codes - so winter is a very busy time!).
You need key people who have the time, passion, the faith and capacity to drive the programme. But you have to also be realistic and work with what you can manage. Hope those are some insights in to our netball programme. It's not perfect and every year is different. But the confidence and the engagement that you see in a child and their family makes it all worth it in building stronger communities - building faith that anything is possible...
