Children and Young People in Wellington City

Current Council activity Pre-engagement summary

Contents

Contents	2
Introduction	4
Segmentation of age groups	4
Pre-engagement	5
Summary	5
Schools engagement	7
Other pre-engagement	10
Draft strategy development	10
Wellington City Libraries	11
General provisions	11
Preschool and Children’s Programmes	11
Youth Programming	14
STEAM and Maker	15
Digital	16
Projects	17
Parks, Sport and Recreation	18
Play	18
Sport and recreation facilities	19
Skate	19
Emerging and non-traditional recreation activities	19
The Shift Programme	19
Kids Greening	20
Leisure Card	20
Other initiatives	20
Wellington Gardens	21
Recreational programmes	21
Classes for school aged children	23

Transport	24
Bikes in schools	24
Orange day parade	25
Community Services	25
Supporting youth organisations	25
Connecting youth across the city	26
COVID youth recovery workstream	28
Arts, Culture and Events	30
pakiTara-toi – Art on walls programme	30
Supporting young artists and performers	30
Toi Pōneke	31
Events	32
Tira Poutama and Te Tauihu strategy	33
City Archives	34
Urban design	34
Experience Wellington	35
Capital E	35
Museums Wellington	37
City Gallery Wellington	39
Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne	40
School holidays	41
Pathways into conservation careers	42
Wellington Zoo	42
Schools	42
Tertiary sector collaboration	42
Events	43

Bush Builders	43
Volunteer opportunities	44
Other	44
WellingtonNZ	44
Events	45

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to outline a summary of the work Wellington City Council (the Council) already does for children and young people. The report also outlines the pre-engagement undertaken to inform the development of a draft strategy for children and young people.

Targeted
Council delivery for children and young people

Libraries and community spaces & programmes, Parks, Sport and Recreation facilities and programmes (play spaces, skate parks, sports facilities, swimming pools, recreation facilities, parks and open spaces), Community services (safety, grants, youth focussed facilitation), School transport safety, Family friendly events, Enviroschools

General
Council services and facilities that impact children and young people

Transport /infrastructure, placemaking, public health bylaws, public toilets (location, design, maintenance), Te Tauihu initiatives, community safety and harm prevention regulation, digital access initiatives, community and neighbourhood building initiatives – intergenerational and marginalised communities, City Housing, food security and other initiatives for vulnerable communities, Biodiversity strategy, nature trails

CCOs and partners
Entities with major focus on youth

Wellington Zoo, Zealandia, outreach, conservation action, predator free, Experience Wellington

This report only covers work targeted towards this population group rather than general work which benefits all age groups (for example, roading and infrastructure).

Council support of Te Papa

Segmentation of age groups

Children and young people (0 to 24 years) make up over 33% of the city population. Within the broad age range of 0 to 24 years, it is important to understand the diversity of views and needs within each age and stage. For the purposes of this strategy, the age group is segmented into the following groupings.
•	Babies and preschoolers (0-5 years).
•	Primary school age (5 – 11 years).
•	Intermediate school age (11 – 13 years).
•	Secondary school age (13 – 17 years).
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•	Tertiary students (18 years +).
•	Young workers (18 years +).
•	Job seekers and young people not in education, employment or training (16 years +).
•	Parents under the age of 24.
Within age groupings, there is a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, experiences, interests and needs.

Pre-engagement

Summary
Pre-engagement refers to the early stage of strategy development when the views of key stakeholders are sought as inputs alongside research and analysis.
The approach to pre-engagement for this strategy included:
•	Reviewing what children and young people have already told the Council.
•	Using the feedback received from the Youth Summit event in 2018 and testing if there were new issues to consider.
•	Ongoing meetings with Youth Council and working with Te Ahi o Ngā Rangatahi on the development of a draft strategy.
•	A schools workshop programme with 3 schools (November 2020).
•	Discussions with agencies and organisations that work with children and young people.

There have been a number of recent, significant events and consultations with young people in Wellington that have produced a clear sense of the views of young people in the city. The Climate Strike on 15 March 2019 (same day as Mosque Attacks in Christchurch) had over 5,000 children and young people involved in a march to Parliament. A march on that scale, dominated heavily by children and young people was unprecedented. Similar numbers had not amassed at Parliament since the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed protests.
The Youth Summit in 2018 did result in feedback around the loss of indoor spaces for young people to hang out. With the loss of the Readings Cinema complex and Central Library, there are now no free and friendly spaces for young people in the city other than the pop-up libraries.

Youth Council
Youth Council is made up of 13 youth councillors and was established in 1998. The Youth Council has the following roles.
•	Help and advise the Council on how to help grow a great city where young people can thrive and contribute to the Council's priorities.
•	Provide added insight (a youth perspective) to the Council to solve problems in a changing world.
•	Develop the capabilities of its members (including leadership and engaging more widely with youth).
•	
These are submissions the Youth Council has made recently.
•	Te Atakura (First to Zero).
•	Wellington City Council’s Annual Plans.
•	Draft Spatial Plan.
•	E-scooters.
•	Future of Central Library.
•	Gambling Venues Policy.
•	Parking Policy.
•	Solid Waste Management and Minimisation Bylaw 2020.

The Youth Council’s Youth Engagement Framework (developed with the assistance of the Ministry of Youth Affairs) has also been a useful touchpoint for the development of this strategy as it outlines the areas where young people have a strong interest and how best to engage.

Youth Summit 2018
The Youth Summit 2018 was a project led by the Community Services group. It included a series of events, including a “postcard to the Mayor” initiative, Youth Council sausage sizzle in Civic Square. The sausage sizzle was designed to encourage young people to come down and have a study break, sharing their ideas about the city and enjoying some food.
The largest engagement event was a Youth Summit. The Youth Summit was a one day event where 130 year ten students (aged 13-15) attended a full day event at Shed 6 and participated in different workshops. Five of the workshops were run by different business units from across the Council and one by the Child Wellbeing Unit from within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The 2018 Youth Summit provided extensive and in-depth feedback on young people’s views about making Wellington a better place. The summit included a number of workshops and the topics included climate change, Planning for Growth, transport and wellbeing. There was also a workshop to “design a community” for Upper Stebbings.
The key themes that came out of the Youth Summit engagement have included places and spaces, activities for young people and transport. These are the items children and young people wanted:
•	No obligation spaces at the centre of everything, spaces that are vibrant and full of activity where they can hang out with friends without having to spend money and have undue attention paid to them.
•	Easier and safer ways to move around the city, with improved public transport and routes to
either ride bikes or walk whilst being safe.
•	More activities and events that are are friendly for them, and more advertisement of these events when they are happening across the city.
•	
Schools engagement
Workshops were held with classes at South Wellington Intermediate School, Tawa Intermediate and Newtown School. The purpose of the workshop was to find out:
•	what the students do to improve their sense of wellbeing.
•	discuss the role of local versus central government to build an understanding of local government’s potential role in the wellbeing space
•	students’ ideas on how to make Wellington a better place for children and young people.

Students were asked for the main way that they improve their sense of wellbeing. Many students provided several answers to the question so single responses were apportioned across the different categories. Broadly the responses are consistent with the findings of the Te Ahi o Ngā Rangatahi report1.

Figure 1: Top ways Year 5’s improve their sense of wellbeing (n=24, Newtown School)

1 What’s Next for Mental Wellbeing, Te Ahi o Ngā Rangatahi, 2020

Figure 2: Top ways Year 7/8’s improve their sense of wellbeing (n=231, South Wellington Intermediate, Tawa Intermediate)

The last exercise of the workshop was for students to identify their idea for improving Wellington for children and young people. The ideas were wide ranging and they are broadly classified below.
Again, many students provided more than one idea (single responses were apportioned across the different categories).

Figure 3: Year 5 idea for improving Wellington for children and young people (n=24, Newtown School)

Affordable housing, ”stop making housing so expensive please” was the most common idea. Several of the ideas under sustainable transport and environmental suggested awareness of the need for action on climate change eg “less oil industries, less petrol, more electric cars” and some made specific references “plant more trees to help us from global warming”.

Figure 4: Year 7/8 idea for improving Wellington for children and young people (n=190, South Wellington Intermediate and Tawa Intermediate School)

Years 7 and 8 (11 to 13 years of age) are at a more independent stage than primary school aged children and their concerns reflected greater independent movement etc. Free public transport, cleaner public toilets, city safety and more things to do (particularly skate related) and places to go were repeated ideas. Several year 7/8s noted that younger children have dedicated playgrounds, but, apart from sports facilities, there was a feeling there is not much for older kids.
The “environmental” grouping was dominated by ideas for more green spaces and gardens, for example “Native nature places so we can protect native animals”.
The Onslow College Learning Support Class was visited on their regular trip to Waitohi (Johnsonville Library). The class enjoy the café and Makerspace opportunities (such as virtual reality, 3D printer and recording studio) and Waitohi is a space where they feel welcome. This was an opportunity to hear from the students and their teachers about the things they like about their local community and some of their recent achievements eg getting to and from school independently.
Onslow College also operates a parent support network. Parents’ main concerns are around employment and somewhere for their young person to live. While students are well catered for at school and then it becomes more difficult to access services etc. The transition out of school, (noting ORS funding ends at 21 years of age) is a very difficult stage. A Wellington Transition Expo (November 2020) was an opportunity for organisations to show the possibilities of what comes next after secondary school. The Welly Transition Collective organised the expo and is focussed on improving pathways for disabled rangatahi (youth) from school into adulthood.

Creative HQ and Young Enterprise ideation
A half day ideation workshop at Creative HQ was held with Year 12-13 students who have been involved with Young Enterprise Trust. The creative proposition was “Wellington has an opportunity

to become a well-being city for all our young people to thrive. What does it need for this to happen”?
The students came up with ideas for a Community Common Room (multifunctional space where mental health services could be accessed), Paint in the Park (a collaborative space to learn and create art), Wellington Nightlife Improvement Safe Space, Talent attraction for young people in Wellington (for finding employment opportunities) and a Dream Event (for young people to share ideas and imagine the future of Wellington).
These ideas, and the issues/opportunities they were a response to, have been considered in the strategy development.

Other pre-engagement
The Council has received feedback from young people on several engagements in recent times and their submissions have been considered in the development of the draft strategy, particularly the recent feedback on the Spatial plan and Te Atakura.
As part of pre-engagement, initial feedback from agencies and NGOs on their view of the key issues facing children and young people was sought. This included groups such Gen Zero, VUWSA, Barnados, Zeal, DSport, InsideOut, VUWSA and others.
Council’s advisory groups – Pacific Advisory Group, Environmental Reference Group and the Accessibility Advisory Group were met with to get early input into the development of the strategy.
The Council CCO’s that focus on experiences for children and young people, have been closely involved in the strategy development work.

Draft strategy development
Youth Council has been closely involved at key stages of the development of the strategy. Te Ahi o Ngā Rangatahi, a youth group of BGI (Boys and Girls Institute) have been key advisors on the strategy development, attending four workshops over November to February.

Wellington City Libraries

General provisions

The Library physical collection
Children and young people are a major library audience who borrow heavily from the library collection. The collection covers a range of formats, not only books, and no child is too young to have their own library card.
All ages are able to borrow freely from all collections - there are collections curated especially for children and young people and there are no restrictions on access other than that required by law. We make available nearly 100,000 children’s items, including 22,000 non-fiction, 30,000 junior fiction, and 23,000 picture books. There are 16,000 items in the collection specifically for young adults.

The Library’s digital e-collection
Access to online resources is provided for free via the library card. Our main ebook supplier enables access to a separate kids e-reading room, currently with 7,700 titles, and a separate teens reading room with 4600 titles. Additionally, Storybox library provides access to streamed storytimes
- preschool and primary school age stories read aloud on video by amazing authors and storytellers.
Homework help is provided with such resources as Encyclopedia Britannica and other similar reference resources.

Library spaces
Libraries are safe and welcoming environments for children, youth and families. Each site has space and furniture for families to relax, read together, use wifi, use the internet PCs, printing etc. Young people in particular make regular use of the tables for study purposes and at times across the school year, demand well outstrips capacity.

Preschool and Children’s Programmes

Baby Rock & Rhyme (BR&R)
BR&R is a 20-30 minute weekly programme for 0 – 2 year olds and their caregivers. It’s delivered across 8 libraries. These are the objectives of the programme.
•	To socialise babies and very young children into the library environment and enrich their experience of language and books.
•	To give parents the skills and confidence to share books, rhymes and songs with their children (parents as first teachers).
•	To provide a welcoming social opportunity in community libraries for Wellington parents/carers and their babies.
•	
The sessions consist of music, songs, nursery rhymes, stories and finger play. Using a ‘baby’ the presenter demonstrates to the parents/caregivers how to hold and interact with the baby through actions to songs, finger-play, tickling, peek-a-boo, rocking, singing, reading etc. The parents/carers follow the modelled behaviour with their baby/toddler.
80% of the content is repeated in the next session. BR&R in te reo Māori is delivered weekly at Waitohi (and will also be weekly at Te Awe). BR&R may also be delivered online.

Preschool Storytime (PSST)
PSST are weekly storytime sessions for pre-schoolers. It’s delivered across all libraries (exception
–	He Matapihi and Arapaki). These are the objectives of the programme.
•	To present sessions that are appropriate for the development stage of children of pre- school age, that fosters the love of reading and listening, and helps to develop emerging literacy skills.
•	To enhance the development of social skills by interaction between children and their caregivers.
•	To promote Wellington City Libraries (WCL) and encourage lifelong reading and library use, and to provide fun sessions that ensure children are introduced to interesting books and love coming to the library.
Preschool Storytime is a 30 minute session held in the library that runs through the year (except the Christmas and New Year period). Each session is normally presented by one librarian.
Preschool Storytime develops on skills learnt during baby Rock and Rhyme, and aims to develop young children’s literacy skills, while improving their social skills, memory and attention spans in preparation for attending school.
The sessions consist of a range of literacy-rich activities, including reading aloud, actions songs, activities and games, fingerplays and rhymes. Sessions include bilingual content and open and close with karakia and waiata.
Kōhunga Kōrero is a storytime delivered in te re Māori at four library sites. It is held weekly at Waitohi, and monthly at Karori, Newtown and Miramar. A weekly session is planned for Te Awe.
Once a month Waitohi Library replaces one of their Saturday PSST sessions with a ‘Community Languages’ session, which is themed to a language and culture from the local community. These sessions feature stories, songs, activities and talks from different cultures, and can be delivered by library staff or community volunteers.
Chinese Language storytimes have previously been held in Karori (librarian run) and Central (community organisation run) libraries. PSST may also be delivered as online storytimes for titles with copyright permission.

Let’s Go Lego™
LGL is an afterschool programme run monthly in seven library sites. Waitohi Library runs this programme weekly, and also has ‘Lego™ Time’ on Saturdays.
LGL is a structured session where library staff provide building challenges for the children that promote teamwork, collaboration, creative thinking and problem solving. It is for ages 5+ with an accompanying adult.
Lego Time (Waitohi only) is less structured and more targeted towards free form building and family fun.

Crafterschool
A weekly one-hour afterschool craft programme run in three libraries during term time. This programme is for children aged 5 – 12 years old. Children should be accompanied by a supervising adult. Library staff generate content depending on what the attendees want.

Family Movie Nights
Movie nights for families are run in five libraries. Movies have a G rating and are chosen from our library collections. Only those library sites that hold a licence may show movies.
Movie screenings are often shown in the school holidays in addition to the regularly scheduled ones.

School Holidays
School holiday activities are run during the three 2 week term holidays. There is not normally a programme of activities during the summer holidays. These are the objectives of the programme.
•	Children will develop their skills and knowledge while experiencing a fun and educational literacy-rich activity in the library.
•	Develops children’s reading, literacy and information literacy skills through activities that are rich in language, narrative, communication, literacy, and experiential learning through play.
•	Children will develop and increasing awareness of the library services and facilities, and what WCL has to offer them. Children will have increased exposure to library collections and resources, and library staff.
•	Holiday activities will support community and social development and address developmental needs of primary school aged children.

School holidays activities are planned out 8 weeks before the start of the holidays, with the marketing brief submitted no later than 6 weeks before the holidays.
Usually a theme is picked for the holiday period and communicated to library and community centre staff, who then design an activity to match them.

Christmas Storytimes
These are run annually through all libraries, and some community centres. They are usually run in the evenings, on library late nights, in the fortnight leading up to Christmas.
These events are aimed at families, with a wide range of children’s ages, and feature stories, songs, and activities with a festive theme. Some libraries will have ‘letter to Santa’ writing stations and post boxes, others will have a visit from Santa.

Music 4 Mites
Currently being trialled at Brooklyn Library, and is the initiative of a librarian.
This programme has the potential to be a successful version of BR&R, but for preschool age children, with the focus more on musical literacy, rather than stories and reading.

Class Visits and School Memberships
Classes and educational groups regularly visit libraries during school terms. Some libraries receive more visits than others.
These are the objectives of the Class Visit programme.
•	To introduce students to the public library and orientate them to their local branch.
•	To encourage membership and use of the library both in school and personal time.
•	To encourage a love of reading and knowledge exploration through exposure to library collections.
•	Grow an awareness of the library collections and services on offer.
•	To increase student information literacy and inquiry learning skills, including digital literacy.

There are two options on offer for visits to the library.
Option 1: One-off or infrequent visits - For classes visiting once or infrequently and do not wish to take part in a progressive programme, they may have a unique visit created for them that meets the objectives (above).
Option 2: Curriculum linked information literacy instruction- For regular visiting classes, or those who which to complete a curriculum supported programme over a series of visits.

School Memberships and Agent Cards
A special school membership is available. The purpose of the membership is to facilitate borrowing during a class visit, and for teachers to borrow subject materials for in-classroom use related to their inquiry/topic.
Schools are able to apply for an Agent card – an organisation membership where the school has a library membership (rather than a school memberships which are used by teachers for student borrowing).

Youth Programming

Youth Night
Waitohi and Tawa libraries have monthly Youth Nights. These are run by library staff and occur after hours, with only teens ages 14+ years are able to enter the library for the event. Library staff provide some activities (movies, music, robots, PlayStation/gaming etc), but generally the event is unstructured and teens can simply hang out or do what they want. Pizza is usually provided at these events.

Dungeons and Dragons
This programme is run in many libraries and is aimed at youth aged 14+ years (though younger people can attend if they have a supervising caregiver).
D&D requires a volunteer to be Dungeon Master, who essentially runs the content of the programme, and library staff perform a supervisory role.

Other
NCEA – to support students on study leave from October, library staff support students by setting up quiet study spaces and keeping noise levels to conversational. NCEA exam timetables are printed out by staff.
PlayStation – these are in 5 libraries, with a range of games. Libraries use them at their own discretion.
Creative Writing Courses – Some staff with a creative writing background have run these short courses successfully in the past.
Promotion to Colleges – services and membership can be promoted to students, such as e- library and MyGateway.

STEAM and Maker
Programmes in this area include Makercarts, Maker Kits, Code Club, and Tech Time.
Southeast, West, and North have large LEGO™ kits; (North has two kits due to the large number of programmes being run there); Central Cluster will have a kit for Te Awe to support their programme. There are also three large tubs of meccano.
Each cluster has a MakerCart. This is a large tub of robotics, electronics, and programmable toys for use in programming, outreach, and demonstrations. Each cluster has several netbooks and tablets for use with STEAM programming and Code Clubs.
Maker Kits are small boxes of resources that can be issued to visitors for use within the library. These boxes contain items such as building blocks, lego, construction sets, dollhouse furniture etc.
Code Club is a free BYOD coding club for 9-13 year olds run during term time. Children will work their way through a range of fun coding projects supported by coding experts. It is currently offered at Cummings Park (Ngaio), Karori, Johnsonville, Newtown, and Mervyn Kemp (Tawa).
Occasional events are held for all ages such as interacting with the library robots, and Experience VR. These may be at any site.
The HIVE at Waitohi is a purpose-built makerspace that has a range of programming and services not provided at other libraries and Makerspace specialist. The HIVE offers the following.
•	Tinker Time: after preschool storytime these are hands-on sessions for little makers. From simple crafts and messy play to fun robots and more, these are recommended for ages 2 - 5 with their caregivers. Older siblings are welcome to join in as well.
•	Various Tech times to play or be inspired which can be open project time, or themed around specific projects or activities.
•	Tūhura Recording Studio is a popular destination for young people. Access is only via booking, and the first 2 hours are free. Equipment includes specialist recording software, MIDI keyboard, microphones, electronic equipment e.g. drums, guitars.
•	Sessions on 3 D printers, a laser cutter, sewing machine, overlocker and loom.
•	
Digital

Kids’ Blog
A popular blog on the WCL website. Various librarians from around library sites write content.
Topics cover new fiction and non fiction; new DVDs and other non-book content; events and programmes promotion; promotion of AnyQuestions; e-library and MyGateway information; new and interesting websites; festivals and celebrations (Te Wiki o te Reo, Diwali etc.).

Kids’ Club
This is an online ‘book club’ that is run through the Kids’ Blog. Children submit reviews of books they have read, which are then published on the Kids’ Blog. Children earn a small incentive prize after their first two reviews, and then every fifth review from then on.

Online storytimes
Online story-times are also very popular and can range from stories for the very young through to scheduled bedtime stories for older children. As ever, copyright permission needs to be obtained.

Summer Reading Challenge
Between 1 December and 31 January the Kids’ Club runs a Summer Reading Challenge for 5 – 12 year olds with their own library card.
A special SRC booklist is released, and children who read and review titles from this list will gain entries into a large prize draw (drawn after 31 January). Each review equals one entry.
Normal Kids’ Club procedures run during this time – all children (regardless of whether they are reviewing SRC titles or not) will receive a small incentive prize after their first two reviews, and then after each 5th review.
A school competition is run in parallel – the school with the highest number of children submitting reviews (as a proportion of their school population) will win $500 book sellers tokens.

AnyQuestions
AQ is a nationwide online homework help service for New Zealand school children. It is funded by National Library and staffed by librarians across the country. WCL is responsible for staffing six one hour shifts per week.

Kids’ Webpages
The CYA Coordinator has oversight on the content of the Kids’ webpages and works with the online services team to update and improve.
Regular updates to the index and What’s On pages are a priority to ensure they are accurate, current and interesting.
Training in HTML coding is available via the online services team.

Teens Blog and writers group
A Teens Blog is mainly overseen by the Children’s and Youth Specialist. Topics cover new fiction and non-fiction; new DVDs and other non-book content; events and programmes promotion; promotion of AnyQuestions; e-library and MyGateway information; new and interesting websites; festivals and celebrations (te wiki, Diwali etc.).

Discord: Teens Writers Group
Teens can join a writers group overseen by a librarian. Discord is used for author talks, writing games, learning as a place to connect.

Projects

Youth Engagement Project
As part of the future library services project it was recognised that there exists an opportunity to allow the voice of youth to come through more strongly to assist with the design of services specifically for them as well as to capture their views and ideas on what is needed to support them as future adults of Wellington. A Youth Engagement Project has been initiated with a staff from across Council’s library network.
New booklists, including a new YA booklists are published on the WCL website.

Education Services
A brochure was produced in 2019 to collate and promote all the services WCL offers to the educational community.

Parks, Sport and Recreation

The Parks, Sport and Recreation group operate and maintain Council facilities, including parks and open spaces, play spaces, sports fields, tracks and trails, cemeteries, indoor and outdoor pools and recreation centres. This includes managing the following.

•	Aquatic facilities and recreation centres and running a wide range of programmes and events.

•	The city’s parks, open spaces and reserves, including the Wellington Gardens, Wellington Town Belt, waterfront, beaches, cemeteries, and the Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park. The team works closely with our community particularly on environmental restoration and predator control initiatives.

•	The maintenance of our parks, open spaces and sport and recreation facilities. Areas of responsibility include parks and reserves, public toilets, sports fields and sports pavilions, tracks and trails, public art, marinas, coastal assets, pools, recreation centres, and play spaces.

•	Partnerships with the community to design, develop, deliver and enable projects that get more Wellingtonians active, engaged and valuing our recreational opportunities and open spaces.

Programmes, spaces and facilities managed by the Parks, Sport and Recreation group are inclusive for all ages and enjoyed by all ages however children and young people make up a significant proportion of users.

Play
The Council adopted a Play Spaces policy in 2017 and it provides strategic direction and guidelines for the provision and management of play spaces in Wellington city. It also acknowledges the importance of play and the need for play space opportunities. The policy supports decisions on the number, placement and quality of play spaces or
playgrounds in Wellington. There are over 100 play spaces across the city including the Matairangi Nature Trail on Mount Victoria that has been designed to reflect and imagine elements of nature and promote time spent playing in the natural environment.
In addition to provision of play spaces, the Parks, Sport and Recreation group advocates for play and run and support play activation events. This summer (2020/21) a series of ‘play days’ was run across the city where we provided free opportunities for kids and families to play together at various sites around the city. Play days have been held in Newtown, Waitohi (Johnsonville), Nairnville Park, Kilbirine Park, Strathmore Park, Brooklyn and Berhampore.

Sport and recreation facilities
The Council provides a large network of sport and recreation facilities that are used by children and young people for team and invididual sports, casual recreation and play. Each week thousands of children participate in sport and recreation across the city. The network includes the following.

•	Five Indoor Recreation Centres (Kilbirnie, Karori, Nairnville, Tawa and the ASB Sports Centre).

•	Five indoor pools (Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre, Karori, Keith Spry, Freyberg and Tawa) and two outdoor pools (Thorndon and Khandallah) several of which include dedicated spray and toddler pools for children.

•	Sports fields at over 40 parks across the city including a mix of artificial and grass fields.

•	A range of other facilities used by children and young people including outdoor courts, a BMX track and pump tracks, Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park and a network of tracks and trails across the city.

Skate
There are seven skate parks in Wellington and several informal skating areas. These include Ian Galloway Park and Waitangi Park which has a wide variety of skate equipment and ramps for beginners and experienced skaters as well as street skating equipment and concrete bowls.
The Council works alongside the skate community including the Wellington Skate Association to advocate for skate including public space design that supports skate and new skate facilities and in 2020 completed a significant engagement project to better understand the needs and aspirations of skaters, many of which are children and young people.

Emerging and non-traditional recreation activities
Parkour and calisthenics are just two examples of emerging or non-traditional recreation activities. The Parks Sport and Recreation team advocates for, and supports, new and emerging activities that appeal to young people. Recent examples are providing funding to Parkour to help them buy equipment for temporary activations and partnering with Calisthenics to build an exercise park.
Parkour programmes are provided in recreation centres.

The Shift Programme
Shift is a programme aimed at improving the wellbeing of young Wellington women through sport, physical activity and leadership opportunities. Shift makes it fun and easy to get moving and empowers young women to lead positive change in their communities and improve wellbeing.

Wellington City Council was the incubator for Shift and delivers Shift Programmes to young women in Wellington City. The programme has been extended to the Hutt Valley, Porirua, Kāpiti and the Wairarapa and is supported by a Charitable Trust called The Shift Foundation.

Kids Greening
The Parks Sport and Recreation team is working with schools and community groups in the Northern Suburbs to pilot a student-led environmental education project. This project connects schools with community environmental pathways and providing teaching opportunities outside the classroom. This is a well-established model around the country (Kids Restore the Kepler, Kids Greening Taupo, Town Belt Kaitiaki Dunedin, Project Janzoon in Abel Tasman) and its establishment is now being led in Wellington.

Leisure Card
The Council works with partner organisations to support high deprivation communities and those who face barriers to accessing recreation (people with disabilities, former refugees etc) to access sport and recreation. This is not age specific but includes a lot of families and kids. Partners include the City Mission who run a network of Sports Banks around the city which provide recycled sporting equipment for those who need it and the Salvation Army who Council has partnered with to run family fun days at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre.

Other initiatives

Sports Event Partnership Fund
The Council provides grant funding to allow sports tournaments to be hosted in Wellington. Much of this goes to youth tournaments.

Sport Development Programme
The Council provides funding to Sport Wellington to support sport development programmes for 15-20 year olds across a range of codes.

Citizen Science and other campaigns
Citizen Science and other campaigns (Welly Walks, Hidden Gardens etc) are run and these campaigns are aimed at engaging people, especially young people in biodiversity and open spaces.

Mount Victoria Matairangi Nature Trail
The Matairangi Nature Trail on Mount Victoria is a play space that has been designed to reflect and imagine elements of nature and encourages families to explore our outdoor spaces.

Wellington Gardens

The Discovery Garden – Te Kaapuia o Te Waoku
In 2017 a dedicated Children’s Garden was opened in the Wellington Botanic Gardens (between the Treehouse Visitor Centre and the Children’s Playground). It is a place for students to learn about the power of plants through highlighting the four main uses – food, fibre, construction, and medicine. Education sessions are be based around themes of sustainability, interconnectedness and culture to encourage respect for the natural environment and the importance of plants.

It was designed following workshops with children, staff, and kaumatua of Taranaki Whānui.

Otari-Wilton’s Bush
As well as self-guided activities for kids, school trips and New Zealand curriculum linked resources are available for visits to Otari-Wilton’s Bush, the only public botanic garden in New Zealand that is dedicated to native plants. The resources are aimed at 8- 12 years of age.
Otari-Wilton's Bush features in the Toyota Kiwi Guardians programme which outlines free family- friendly, treasure hunt-like activities to encourage children and their families to adventure together and explore and learn about nature.
Two new LEOTC (Learning experience outside the classroom) programmes by Wellington Botanic Garden ki Paekākā Education team. These programmes have been designed to complement a visit to Space Place.

•	Planting through the seasons - makes real world links to the seasons and how they affect plants.

•	Plants in space - looks at how we depend on Earth’s natural resources, plants in space and learn about alternative growing methods such as hydroponics and aquaponics.

Events for Children and Young People
PSR runs a range of events targeting children young people and their families. Each Arbor Day the team runs tree planting events with local schools. In recent years there has been a partnership with Trees that Count to develop a promotional video. The “Plant Like a Ninja” video was used by Wellington schools and schools across the country. Other events have included the Climb and Tree, Get a Tree event in Frank Kits Park and Welly Bomb Comp at the waterfront diving platform.

Recreational programmes

Swim Well
SwimWell offers year-round swimming lessons for children aged 5 months to 14 years during the primary school term-time. Intensive courses are available during the school holidays. SwimWell is a Council-run programme offering children's swimming lessons at these four pools in Wellington.

•	Karori.
•	Keith Spry (Johnsonville).
•	Tawa.
•	Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre (Kilbirnie).

Recreation Centre Programme
Council provides a wide range of pre-school and children’s programmes across its network of recreation facilities. These include:

•	The following activities for pre-schoolers.
o	Gym Jam.
o	Giggles and Wiggles (0–12 months).
o	Toddlers and Waddlers (was Boppers and Hoppers) (6 months–2.5 years).
o	Musical Tots (1.5–3 years).
o	Tumbling Tots (2–4 years).
o	Gym Tots (3.5–5 years).

•	The following activities for school-age children.
o	Gymnastix (5-7 years).
o	Kiwi Gym (5–12 years).
o	Karate (7–18 years).
o	Parkour (7 years–adult).
o	Squash skillz (6–12 years).
o	Mini-ball and basketball league (school years 5–8).
o	Basketball clinic (9–12 year olds).
o	School holiday programmes.

•	The following are at Kilbirnie Recreation Centre only.
o	Skating (Learn to rollerblade or rollerskate; Fit on Skates classes; Family skating sessions; Public skating sessions).
o	Skateboarding (Learn to skateboard and Skateboard only sessions).

School holiday programmes
School holiday programmes and activities are offered at our sport and recreation centres (Nairnville, Karori, Tawa, ASB Sports Centre), Botanic Gvardens and pools. The following programmes are offered.

•	OSCAR programme Fun and Run: A day of recreation, inflatables, and scooter, ideal for kids aged 5 to 12.
•	Sporting Skills: A full day 3-sports programme, ideal for kids aged 7 to 13.
•	Basketball clinics.
•	Breakout: A more mature programme with youth-based activities, ideal for ages 11 to 14.
•	Active Play: A casual drop-in programme with an inflatable and soft equipment, ideal for ages 1 to 10 during the school holidays.
Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre (WRAC) has fun holiday programme activities and activations and publishes a programme of daily activities and equipment available.

Pilot with MSD
A programme, which is a joint initiative between Wellington City Council and Ministry of Social Development (MSD), enables young people to have free recreation time at the Council’s facilities, where they can participate in a range of cultural and sporting activities.

Classes for school aged children
ASB Sports Centre offers several junior sports programmes that focus on specific skills and techniques within the game. Examples are basketball, netball and a Home Education programme that aligns to Sport New Zealand’s ‘Physical Literacy approach’. Groups vary depending on age and the desire to participate in structured sports or less formal activities.

School sports leagues
School sports leagues include basketball, miniball, floorball, futsal, netball. The ASB Sports Centre also works with sports organisations who use the facilities on a regular basis to develop programmes and activities within the centre. The centre means Wellington schools have access to a range of sports development and physical activity programmes. The sports centre is also a great destination for regional and national sports tournaments.

Transport

Transport team programmes and initiatives are geared towards supporting the mode shift towards the active and public transport that is required for a sustainable future transport system. Every day over 30,000 students travel to and from schools throughout Wellington City. Supporting active travel is one of ways the Council helps to make this journey safe, reduce traffic congestion and encourage sustainable transport choices. The Council works with Greater Wellington Regional Council so that there is a range of initiatives and tools to available to support schools in active school travel planning.
The Council works with schools to identify any issues and improve safety on the roads around their school. These are some of the initiatives that schools have been involved in to improve safety and encourage active transport modes.
•	Themed in-school projects such as Walk ‘n Wheel Week, Movin’ March (an annual Greater Wellington Regional Council initiative) or No-car November.
•	Improved parent parking practices through Kiss & Drop-off zones and student valet services and generally encouraging parents to drive and park safely near the school.
•	Park and stride schemes – encouraging parents to drop students off further from the school to reduce the congestion around the school gate.
•	Identify and reduce the barriers to active travel.
•	Road safety projects as part of an enquiry-based learning.
•	Bicycle skills training provided by GW cycle skills training.
•	Walking school buses.
Council initiatives include installing active school warning signs, and improved safety infrastructure such as access and crossing points.
The Transport team also work with government agencies in response to particular issues, for example, collaborating with the New Zealand Police and ACC on moped safety in the Basin Reserve area.

Bikes in schools
Bikes in Schools is a partnership between Wellington City Council and the BikeOn Charitable Trust NZ. Bikes in Schools programmes are designed to reduce the barriers to riding a bike that students face. Access to a bike and somewhere to ride are often what keeps students off their bikes.
Currently access to a bike is problematic for almost 70% of New Zealand students (Bike On NZ 2010).
The WCC Bikes in Schools fund is an annual fund which generally supports rollout of the programme to three schools annually. To date the Bikes in School programme has been implemented at 12 schools. Cycle Skills training (through Pedal Ready) is part funded by Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Orange day parade
The Council has run an annual parade for the children who are involved in school patrol work. More than half of the city’s primary schools are usually represented (1,200 students in total) and it involves a parade, followed by an awards ceremony. In 2020 the event was held online due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The event is a good opportunity to raise the profile of this important work and celebrate the children who undertake this safety task – often in all weathers. The job requires training on road safety awareness (run by community police officers) and in many schools it is recognised as a volunteering and leadership role for students. It is considered a vital role in improving safety around schools and communities.

Community Services

The Community Services team plays a key role in supporting the social wellbeing of the community, of which children and young people make up a significant proportion. Broadly the Community Services team does the following.
•	Facilitates responses for the community.
•	Connects and builds relationships building with key contacts in partner organisations and government agencies and facilitates positive outcomes.
•	Provides supports to many other organisations, for example through grants funding, to deliver positive outcomes to the community.
•	Connects internally to provide a community lens to work across the Council.
In a general sense, community development work looks to support and build the connectedness and resilience of all populations within the community. Therefore, general initiatives like Neighbours’ Day, Local Host work, Harm Reduction or Emergency Preparedness work supports the entire community, and children and young people will also benefit from it.
The following details specific Community Services’ work in relation to children and young people.

Supporting youth organisations
Funding of partner youth organisations (both multi-year contract and Social and Recreation grant funding) enables the delivery of programmes and support services both in the city and suburbs for communities of interest – Youth, Māori and Pasifika, and the Rainbow communities.
Organisations and programmes supported include:

•	Youthline - train volunteers, offer Mental Health First Aid for Young People and deliver ongoing education programmes in schools.
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•	Zeal Education Trust - Zeal Wellington draws a diverse range of young people through interactions with high schools, collaborative partnerships, social support, afternoon hangs programme and youth focused events.
•	Take 10 (see below) - is a safe support zone in Courtenay Place every Friday and Saturday evening from 10.30 pm – 3.30 am, in the form of a mobile unit purpose-built for Take 10. Take 10 facilitates harm prevention by serving water, phone charges and a place to reconnect with friends. They support vulnerable young people with referrals, assistance with transport.
•	InsideOUT Koāro - InsideOUT Youth Volunteer Programme – funding to create a Volunteer Coordinator/Mentor role to enable better support and engagement with youth volunteers.
•	Ara Taiohi Inc – a collective that supports young people and youth workers in the city. Support for running a national youth development conference – Involve.
•	Evolve – delivers integrated health care and social support services for 10 -24 year olds in Wellington.
•	Social Change Collective – was formed in 2017 by a group of young Wellingtonians who wanted to be more informed of social issues and wanted to work together to create actionable solutions.
•	Wellington Boys’ and Girls’ Institute – a youth development organisation offering a range of youth programmes including mentoring, youth groups, youth leadership and
family support.
•	Challenge 2000 – providing after school and holiday programming, youth mentoring and family support.
•	Te Ara – is an alternative education school which aims to support youth with learning and/or behavioural barriers and facilitate a return to mainstream schooling.

Through other funds we support projects for children and young people such as our Natural Environment Fund supports the Enviroschools network through the Toimata Foundation.
The Waste Minimisation Seed Fund provides grants for groups working with young people. For example, Papa Taiao - Earthcare Limited offers programmes that support student led innovative and entrepreneurial learning in a social or ecological enterprise.
Other funding support has included Garden to Table, engaging schools with food education for healthy lifestyles, Sustainability Trust to engage with and encourage children to have sustainable, healthy living, and supporting youth programmes in our network of community centres across the city.

Connecting youth across the city

Connecting city communities
This workstream involves working directly with university age people and the organisations that represent and work with them in the central city to connect them in with local community activities. Greater connections with the community improve safety, reduce loneliness and encourage community participation and social life in their local place. This gets university-age students involved in developing advocacy campaigns and running events and activities to connect them with other members of central city communities.

As part of this, the Council participates in the Wellington University orientation week events for new students and engages with them about city services they can use, and community activities they can join in on, including volunteering opportunities with conservation and planting.

Reducing youth harm and increasing safety initiatives
The Council funds and partners with a range of organisations to prevent and reduce harm to young people, targeting areas where young people are more at risk of experiencing harm. For example, harmful drinking and other types of alcohol harm disproportionately affects young people, as does sexual violence.
•	A key initiative funded by the Council is Take 10 – as outlined above, this is a safety zone for young people to charge their phones, rehydrate, reconnect with friends. Young people can access referral and assistance with things like transport if they are vulnerable.
•	Another key initiative is the funding council approved for Zeal for their youth street outreach programme; targeting at-risk youth who are on the streets by offering a safe haven, a meal, meaningful and social connections, and support services.
•	Community Services officers also work with partners such as the university student associations and the New Zealand Police on awareness-raising initiatives around alcohol and other drugs and sexual violence prevention.
o	“Know your limit: Know the Alcohol Ban area” is a recent campaign Council has led in partnership with the Police, targeting students in O-week.
o	The “Don’t Guess the Yes” campaign is in its fourth year – this diverse partnership with the Police talks directly with young people about the necessity of informed consent and encourages young people to challenge unacceptable behaviour and keep their friends safe.

Welcome packs for refugee families
Community Services liaises with the Red Cross who support refugee families as they settle in Wellington. The welcome packs are tailored according to nationality/language spoken, and whether there are children in each group or family. The Welcome Packs are currently under review to determine a moe efficient way to get the information out to refugee families.
Standard contents currently include the following.
•	Translated Mayor’s Welcome letter.
•	Translated Welcome Card (foldout detailing Community Facilities, libraries, swimming pools, walks/bike tracks, rubbish and recycling information and connecting with your community).
•	Brochures, some translated and some in English (Accessibility info, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, reading materials available in libraries and online, English classes etc).
•	Evacuation checklist.
•	Welcome Folder.
If there are children, the pack includes the following.
•	A WCC kids book/library bag.
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•	Complimentary entry to Recreation Centres/ASB Sports Centre.
•	Free reading classes for children in libraries.
•	Any other free/low cost things for children available at that point in time (e.g. youth night at the pools).

COVID youth recovery workstream
Young people were recognised as a very vulnerable group in relation to COVID-19 impacts and has been prioritised as one of several focus areas for the Community Services team’s recovery work. With limited resources working on major, complex social problems, the Community Services team facilitates and works through others to respond to community issues and opportunities.

A new Community Connector role takes an active approach to ensuring individuals and whānau can access the support and services they need to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. This approach will support and add value to services already offered by agencies and organisations.

The following stages of response have taken place for the youth recovery workstream.

Scoping and action planning
•	Wide engagement across the youth sector in Wellington with all youth related government agencies, youth organisations, regional local government youth networks, school wellbeing networks, Youth Offending Team, and Ara Taiohi (peak body for youth organisations and workers).
•	Knowledge and awareness raising of the sector’s services and programmes, funding initiatives, identifying gaps and building relationships to create strategic and operational links in Council’s facilitative role.
•	Identification of initiatives that are working well in other areas eg exploring duplication of START Taranaki’s early intervention model for young people at risk of offending or repeat offending.
•	Identification of key sources of youth engagement and data reflecting emerging youth issues and trends for agile and effective response post-COVID.
•	Development and delivery of quarterly youth action plans.

Facilitating connections and targeted responses
The following activities, in line with action plans, demonstrate how the team builds relationships and uses existing networks to provide new or tailored solutions.
•	Ongoing involvement in the shaping of Mental Health and Wellbeing Awareness campaign and promoting the youth voice in this process.
•	Collaborate with youth focused regional networks in 2021 – Regional Local Government Youth Network, Wellbeing Network of Wellington Schools.
•	Ongoing facilitation of connections between agencies/services with identified and emerging needs we are aware of in the community. Here are examples.
o	Facilitating support networks and funding for the cluster of Tawa Schools.
o	Māori Wardens recruitment of youth.
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o	Promoting new Leisure Card access with support services for communities.
o	Supporting Social Change Collective to develop their youth governance aspirations with Community Law.
o	Monthly kōrero is the WCC/Porirua City Councils partnership engagement of Māori and Pasifika Advisors.
o	Regular hui with Ministry of Education, community leaders and church organisations on language barriers where English is a second language.
o	For at-risk Māori and Pasifika rangatahi, connecting to organisations and groups that are already taking a whānau partnership approach to tackling these issues.
•	Working internally across the Council to assist other groups to respond to community need. For example, use of community centres for youth at risk (particularly Māori and Pasifika youth) to kōrero and have a recreational safe space for free.

Youth homelessness

Homelessness is a major priority area for Community Services and it can be extremely difficult for young people to access safe, affordable and stable housing. A multi-year grant to Downtown Community Ministry includes an outcome around sustaining tenancy services for those who are
recently housed or are at risk of re-entering homelessness. While this service is available for those over the age of 18, providers lean heavily on youth specialist organisations to support those aged 17 and under. Community Services has facilitated several discussions with MSD, HUD
and Oranga Tamariki to highlight the vulnerability of young people experiencing homelessness and we continue to advocate for additional support from central government.

The Council also leads work on an interagency forum on homelessness with government agencies to help facilitate needed responses in Wellington.

Children’s Day – 13 March

For the annual celebration of Children’s Day, Community Services encourages and supports organisations to run events and programmes, through our Grant and Operational funding.
Community Services facilitates the events and provides information about what is on across the city to celebrate. In 2021, for example (subject to COVID alert levels) the Council has supported Capital E’s Children’s Day programme under the sails outside Capital E.

Arts, Culture and Events

pakiTara-toi – Art on walls programme
Wellington is a city with diverse murals that transform place, tell our stories and reflect our indigenous heritage and culture.
City Arts has an annual budget of $50,000 to contribute to mural projects and while the objectives of the programme are not age specific, communities are encouraged to submit proposals, including our youth community and local schools. For example, Wellington High School was involved in the development of the mural on Wallace Street by Sheyne Tuffery. This involvement contributes to engaging communities in creative place-making and supporting communities, including young people, to take ownership of their places. Another objective of the programme is to increase perceptions of safety and minimise graffiti.

Artists in schools
Creative New Zealand and the Ministry for Education recently initiated the Creatives in Schools programme, which partners artists and creative practitioners with teachers and kaiako to foster new learning experiences for students and ākonga of all ages. Prior to that funding, the Council supported various projects in partnership with schools, for example Paint Up and Ocean Waves, where experienced artists worked with primary school students to develop and present new artwork for their communities.

Supporting young artists and performers
Artists can get help for creative projects (advice and funding) from the Council's Arts Advisors, Public Art Fund and other Council grants. Events held in Council run venues can apply for a Venue Subsidy.
The following are recent youth focussed events that received venue subsidies.

•	The TuTagata Secondary Poly Festival Wellington 2019 – to hold the annual TuTagata
Wellington Secondary School’s Polynesian Festival celebrating and strengthening Pasifika heritage language and culture at the Michael Fowler Centre.

•	Wellington Chinese New Year Festival – to hold a festival and performance celebrating Chinese culture and creating opportunities for young people of Chinese heritage to celebrate and engage in their culture in the TSB Arena and Shed 6.

•	Pump Dance – Alice in Wonderland 2020 – to support Pump Dance students to present a full-length dance show at the Opera House.
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The following are some general grants funding through the arts and culture fund with a youth focus.

•	Arohanui Strings - funding to continue an ongoing music programmes at Mt Cook and Holy Cross Schools that is an early-intervention programme for vulnerable children to help transform lives through music.

•	The Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ Trust – to support the development and presentation of performances by high school and primary school aged young people of Shakespearean scenes.

•	The Sri Lankan Dance Academy – to support the teaching of a heritage dance form to children of Sri Lankan origin.

Toi Pōneke
Toi Pōneke Arts Centre is a creative space where the city's arts communities interact, produce innovative works, teach and exhibit in the heart of Wellington. Affordable office and studio space for the creative sector helps emerging and newly established artists grow and develop. Toi Pōneke Arts Centre provides affordable rehearsal spaces for dance and theatre, and rooms for art classes.
Toi Pōneke was created with Council recognising the importance of fostering creative energy in the inner city by supporting a hub of arts and creativity. It is an inclusive space for the arts community but the following acknowledges that it is a place where young emerging artists can be supported.
The Toi Pōneke Gallery mentors artists and hosts 13 exhibitions annually for emerging and established artists. A $500 materials grant was recently introduced for exhibiting artists and this has increased the calibre and number of artists applying to exhibit at Toi Pōneke. Exhibiting at Toi Pōneke is a good stepping stone for emerging artists and is considered by artists as career enhancing. Access to gallery space is difficult for young artists.
The Toi Pōneke Residency programmes are open to all but can support young artists in the following areas.

•	Visual Art – includes financial support, a studio space and exhibition outcome.

•	Sound Art – in partnership with Te Kōkī who provide studio support, and Toi Pōneke provide an exhibition outcome for the recipients 2

•	Screen Writing – The Write Room – in Partnership with Pop Films, they provide mentoring support and Toi Pōneke provide financial support and an office space.

2 Te Kōkī provide mentoring and technical support and Toi Pōneke provides financial support, a studio space and exhibition outcome to recipients.

•	Dance – in partnership with the NZ School of Dance we offer financial support and the dance studio to recent dance and management graduates to create and present a show in the Fringe Festival.

Events
All the events run by the Council’s City Events team are family friendly and free, accessible events. All events delivered or supported by the team and other teams at Council are inclusive of children and young people, but the following events are particularly targeted at youth.

Artsplash
Artsplash is Wellington's annual primary and intermediate school arts festival. Artsplash is a young people’s arts festival that brings together primary and intermediate schools throughout Wellington to celebrate dance, music, and wearable art. They perform for their parents, whānau, friends and the public.
Artsplash is held at the Michael Fowler Centre.

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2020
The street parade (when COVID-19 alert levels permit) is very well attended by schools. Capital E produces a Mahuru programme of events for the week as well.

Summer City
Summer City is a programme of family friendly free events through the summer period. Specific events for children include Kids Magic (Dell entertainment and picnic) and A Welly Weekend in January 2021 which included a whānau day with amusement rides, circus performances and cardboard box land.
The Pasifika festival highlights our Pacific communities’ arts and culture and is an opportunity for all Pacific people to celebrate and share their knowledge, values and beliefs.
The iconic Gardens Magic free outdoor concert series is Wellington's flagship Summer City event and the programming includes gigs for and performers that are under 18s and 18 – 24 year olds.
Waitangi Day events in Waitangi park include a Whānau film night – a free outdoor family movie.

Matariki ki Pōneke festival
Matariki ki Pōneke festival is a time for whānau and friends to come together to reflect on the past 12 months and look towards the year ahead. This event is growing and developing and has included young people creating and performing in a lantern parade and taking part in cultural activities on the waterfront.

A Very Welly Christmas
Lambton Quay is closed to all traffic for two days allowing A Very Welly Christmas to take over in late November and provide the unique opportunity of roving the streets freely enjoying the shopping, hospitality and special Christmas activities. The event runs from The Old Bank Arcade, junction of Willis St all the way to the Supreme Court and the Bowen/Whitmore streets.

Local community Christmas parades are also held in Tawa, Johnsonville, and Kilbirnie.

Tira Poutama and Te Tauihu strategy

The Tira Poutama (Māori Relationships) team works alongside iwi and the wider Māori community; builds internal cultural capability and supports the success of Te Matarau a Māui, the Wellington Regional Māori Economic Development Strategy.
The team also leads work to ensure the goals of Te Tauihu (Māori Language Strategy) are being delivered on across the Council. All six goals of the strategy will support tamariki, rangatahi and whānau by raising the mana of te reo Māori, elevating the visibility and use of te reo Māori, and acknowledging the history and whakapapa of the region.
Work is iwi, hapū, whānau and hapori centred and within that the following initiatives are tamariki and rangatahi focussed.

•	Support for Wellington’s rangatahi to learn and perform iwi mana whenua haka at special occasions.

•	Certificates of recognition for exemplary te reo Māori youth champions in schools.

•	Support for events that raise the profile of te reo and mātauranga Māori such as Te wiki o te Reo street parade and projections on buildings, Matariki and other events; Te Matatini (2019), Rā Haka and schools kapahaka events.

•	Building relationships and brokering connections for kōhanga reo, kura, Māori studies faculties to work effectively with the Council.

Tuia Rangatahi programme
The Tuia Rangatahi programme is a long term, inter-generational approach to develop and enhance the way in which young Māori contribute to communities throughout New Zealand and involves local Mayors selecting a young Māori from their district to mentor on a one-to-one basis, to encourage and enhance leadership skills. Mayors develop a ‘one-to-one’ mentoring relationship with a rangatahi in their community over a 12 month period. Previous graduates of the programme continue to be involved by offering ‘peer support’ and ongoing development opportunities.

Te Matarau a Māui
Te Matarau a Māui is the Wellington Regional Māori Economic Development Strategy that was developed through the mana whenua partnership forum of the Greater Wellington Regional Council and co-designed through a range of community hui starting in 2019. Wellington City Council has a role to support the aspirations of the strategy.

The vision for Te Matarau a Māui is Mahia te kaheru matarau – Utilise the spade of a hundred blades. The strategy values acknowledge Tuku Ihotanga (preparing the future through intergenerational development and growth); Whānau; Mātauranga Māori; Tino Rangatiratanga; and Mana Whakahaere. Of the five key opportunity areas identified in the strategy, investing in education, training and employment for Māori will have a particular impact for tamariki and rangatahi in Wellington.

City Archives

The Council’s Wellington City Archives was established in 1994 and holds physical and digitised records dating back to 1840. The collections are a rich resource for anyone researching
Wellington’s social history and show changes in the community and urban development over the past 150 years. They also include building permits, consents and other property information.
The work of City Archives collects and preserves information about the city for access by future generations and therefore focuses on the past as well as the future.
In terms of specific activity focussed on young people, the City Archives team does the following.

•	Has an ongoing relationship with the School of Architecture providing content for research.

•	Is digitising collections so that they are more accessible for all, but also protecting and future proofing this primary information/historical resource for future generations.

•	Is using social media platforms to reach a younger audience and build awareness of the value of archives to understanding histories (including social, natural and built environments) and ensuring transparency of decision-making.

Urban design

The Urban Design team gives design advice to a wide range of Council’s strategic and policy work. We also design and deliver laneways, town centres, parks and other open spaces around the city.

The team, when designing within the built environment and pre-existing constraints, will apply Universal Design principles 3 as much as possible. Other guidance that reflects good design for children and young people includes CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design); Global Street Design Guide and Healthy Streets resources.
There are recent examples of projects where youth voice has been an important part of public space design. In 2019 the Kids and Public Spaces (KAPS) Wall Park Redesign project involved children from Linden School and Tawa Intermediate.
A process plan for working with the children was developed and a variety of workshops were held with the students, as well as field trips to other sites. The students had to learn about design and technology to inform their concept designs. Certificates were presented to the students for their involvement and the Principal of Tawa Intermediate noted “This project is a good example of a cross-curricula activity which has a real value to these young people and the community”. Their ideas are evident in the final product which is nearing completion.

Experience Wellington

Wellington City Council is the principal funder of Experience Wellington. Over 42,000 children and young people visited in 2019/20 for a learning experience (ages 2 – 16). Experience Wellington offers the following arts and culture experiences across the city.
•	Capital E and National Theatre for Children.
•	Museums Wellington.
•	City Gallery Wellington.

Capital E
Capital E is part of Experience Wellington, a registered charity and a Council Controlled Organisation established by Wellington City Council to develop and manage Wellington’s cultural and arts assets. The organisation hosts a combination of unique visitor experiences that contribute to Wellington’s economy and reputation as a centre of excellence for arts, culture and creativity.
Capital E is a centre for creativity for children with a particular focus on ages 0 to 12 and some technology learning tailored for the 13 years plus age group.

MediaLab
The MediaLab offers a learning experience through a LEOTC, curriculum-linked programme across a range of technologies. Virtual reality, 3D design, app and game design and music making technology is offered.

3 Universal Design is the design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability.

OnTV Studio
Another curriculum-linked programme is an immersive team experience in the professional and purpose-built TV studio. Learning sessions enable classes to work together to create their own television broadcast. A range of possible experiences are offered, and several leverage Wellington’s capital city status eg visiting Parliament to learn about how the nation’s decisions are made, followed by a studio experience to produce a related, imaginative news show.

National Theatre for Children
Capital E believes all tamariki should have the opportunity to experience performance art that speaks of Aotearoa and their place in the world. The National Theatre for Children tours creative, immersive, and inclusive shows across the country, performing to thousands of children and young people. In 2019/20 the National Theatre shows performed for close to 20,000 tamariki and rangatahi around the country.
The theatre programme is informed by a biennial Ideatorium so that the perspectives and experiences of children and young people are part of the design. Capital E National Theatre for Children is remounting Seasons, one of its most popular theatre productions from its 22-year repertoire. The works are original and reflect New Zealand and our place in the world.
Development of productions is undertaken with a team of creative professionals with opportunities for young people in the target audience to be involved in the process. It can take between two- three years to develop a work from the initial Ideatorium concept and not all works make it to full production.

PlayHQ
PlayHQ is process-led creative discovery with open-ended activities, workshops, and play for children under five years of age. Many free events are based in PlayHQ generally for children 3 years and older – examples include a Science Jam and a Little Creators 30 minute sessions.
Throughout summer there is a PlayHQ Summer Play Activation, where tamariki are invited to be the conductor of their own play exploration and discover how sound works through creative technology, reimagined acoustic objects and more.
During COVID lockdown, Capital E digitised PlayHQ offerings and this was enjoyed by audiences across the country.

National Arts Festival
Since 2003, Capital E’s unique, biennial, multi-disciplinary National Arts Festival has combined national and international performers to inspire and engage over 40,000 young Wellington audiences. The festival is programmed to include a variety of art-forms. In 2019 there were 11 shows (seven New Zealand and four international shows) and a mini-film festival. The next festival will be in 2023.

Maker Faire 2020
In partnership with the Make community a Maker Faire event was held that attracted 6000 creatives to a whānau friendly showcase of crafts ranging from robots to 3D printing to matchstick sculptures. 2020 was the second Maker Faire to be held.

School holidays
Capital E produces popular live performances (eg theatre, music, puppetry) during the school holidays. The school holiday programme is always changing and uses leading edge technologies to provide creative tools for children and young people to develop their visions. The April 2021 school holidays for example, will offer a multi-disciplinary audio-reactive art project, games development, virtual world building and green screening. More traditional methods are also offered eg collage, paint, silent film and physical game building.

Museums Wellington
The Museums Wellington Trust comprises four of Wellington’s leading visitor attractions – Wellington Museum, Space Place, Cable Car Museum and Nairn Street Cottage. Collectively, the museums attract nearly 400,000 visitors every year. Across Museums Wellington and Experience Wellington as a whole, there is a team of experienced educators who curate LEOTC programmes for all sites and ensure experiences remain enriching and dynamic.
The visitor experiences across all sites are designed with children, young people and families in mind and supported by a What’s On programme that may support events and specific exhibitions.

Wellington Museum
Wellington Museum tells the stories of the Wellington region in the heritage 1892 Bond Store on the waterfront. Learning experiences are designed for school students of all ages and programmes support a range of curriculum areas. The educators at the Museum are also available to support the local curriculum via Zoom or in-person visits.
Programmes for schools include the following.
•	Head of the Fish/Te Ūpoko o Te Ika (Wellington’s people, places, and history).
•	Small Steps and Big Changes (how people how people make positive changes and contributions to society).
•	Treasure Island (including a trip to Includes ferry trip to Matiu Island).
•	Star Path (a magical exploration of navigation, journeys, and arrivals).
•	A Place to Call Home (Tangata Whenua).
•	NCEA History (Historical Events Dame Whina Cooper, Wakefield Scheme, Wahine Disaster, protest and action).
•	Te Waka Wahine (1968 Wahine Disaster).
•	Small steps big changes (protest and action).
•	Behind the Scenes in the Museum (taonga – how objects in the museum convey stories, how the objects are sourced, why they are significant and how they are being looked after).
•	Geography 2.2 (Geographic concepts and how natural and cultural environments develop and change with time).
In 2018/19 there were 5600 children and young people who visited for LEOTC experiences.

Space Place
Space Place is housed in the Carter Observatory and has a full-dome planetarium. Space Place tells the stories of the southern skies through full-dome digital planetarium films, interactive exhibitions and events including workshops and courses to help people discover the spaces above New Zealand, Earth.
Programmes for schools include the following.
•	Space Place Sing-along.
•	The World Around Us (exploring the Earth, Sun and Moon).
•	Seasons, Shadows and Cycles (how shadows change).
•	Explore the Solar System (Planets of the Solar System).
•	Solar System and Beyond (Interactive Tour of Space).
•	Extremophiles (Wonderful world of Astrobiology).
•	Astronomical Cycles and Timescales (Astronomical timekeeping and calendars).
•	Roving Robots (Programming Edison Robots).
•	Telescope Tour (Discover our collection of Telescopes).
•	Star Path (A magical exploration of navigation, journeys, and arrivals).

In 2018/19 there were over 6100 children and young people who visited for LEOTC experiences.

Cable Car Museum
The Cable Car Museum is located in the original winding house for the cable car in Kelburn and showcases Wellington’s most famous transport system over the years. The team works closely with the other Experience Wellington teams and beyond to collaborate on events and educational programming.
These are the two main learning experiences.
•	The Wellington Cable Car – a look into the city’s past and present changes in technology (Years 5 – 8).
•	Harbour and Hills - Harbour and Hills (introduces students to stories of our harbour, from its creation (Ngake and Whataitai) to its uses over time and continues with a ride on the Cable Car and visit to the Cable Car Museum) (Years 3 – 8).

Nairn Street Cottage
Nairn Street Cottage was built in 1858 and shows societal and technological changes over time. An innovative timeline in the visitor centre and heritage garden complements this experience. The LEOTC offering includes the following.
•	Nairn Street Cottage (Home of the Wallis Family for Years 3 - 4).
•	Nairn Street Cottage (Wellington's people, places, and history for Years 5 - 8).
•	Place to Call Home (Waves of Migration for Year 9 - 13).
As with the other sites, Nairn Street Cottage also offers birthday party packages.

City Gallery Wellington
City Gallery Wellington has provided art education experiences to students for over 20 years. The Gallery’s public programmes team are focussed on delivering engaging and inclusive events and aim to celebrate the art of a diverse range of communities. These are some of the recent specific family and children focussed activities.
•	Hosting a Movies for Kids school holidays programme with free entry to the screenings.
•	Gallery Babes makes space for new parents to enjoy an intimate art tour with their under- ones. The popular whānau-friendly tours book out months in advance. Overall, 327 parents made bookings for last year’s line-up.
•	A new monthly art club for tamariki 1-5 years old and their whānau to enjoy storytime, messy play and good fun.
•	A return of the popular Family Day with fun art activities for the whole whānau inspired by our current exhibitions on the last Saturday of the school holidays.
•	An online gallery that celebrates the creativity of children at the gallery for over 20 years, alongside information about the artist who inspired the work, and links to teaching resources.

Learning programmes
Gallery tours and practical workshops encourage students to explore their personal responses to artworks while increasing their understanding of contemporary art. Education programmes are developed and led by trained visual art teachers and are adapted to the Gallery’s regularly changing exhibition programme. They can be tailored to suit individual class and subject requirements.
Ongoing workshops for schools include the following.
•	Mural tour and stencilling workshop (Years 5 +).
•	Mural tour and screen-printing workshop (All ages).
•	Sculpture tour (All ages).
•	Character sculpting workshop (All ages).
•	Sculpture tour and workshop – Three dimensional forms (All ages).
•	Sculpture tour and workshop – Construction challenge (Years 4+).
•	Junior sculpture trail (All ages).
The City Gallery Foundation offer transport grants of up to $700 per school in the Greater Wellington Region to attend education programmes at City Gallery Wellington. Decile 1 – 5 schools are prioritised.
In 2018/19 there were over 4000 children and young people who visited for LEOTC experiences.

Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne

Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne is an urban eco-sanctuary (within an 8.6 km predator free fencing) set in lush forest in Karori and is home to over 40 rare species of native wildlife. Wellington City Council is the principal funder and strategic partner of Zealandia and provides an operating grant that covers approximately 15% of the operating costs4. Zealandia’s specific work with children and young people is generally funded through other revenue generation efforts including a Ministry of Education LEOTC grant for curriculum-led education programmes.
Around 12,000 students per year interact with Zealandia, with an increasing focus on longer-term, deeper engagement with the natural environment and the positive lasting impacts of establishing a connection with nature.
The Learning team’s work at Zealandia is recognised as being at the leading edge of conservation education experiences. This includes a shift from instructor-led explanation model to co-creation of projects and activities with young people, so that young people are fully involved and empowered in their conservation learning and engagement. An example of this was the Rāngai Rangatahi pilot project with Kārori Youth Centre, where young people self developed the activities that would inject nature at the centre. Zealandia provided all the materials and support for the youth centre to help do this work.
As well as formal learning programmes, Zealandia has a range of family-friendly and learning experiences for children and young people within the sanctuary and visitor centre.

•	Kids night walks, where children and young people get to experience the environment at night, hear kīwī calls etc.

•	Buggies go Bush - Every Wednesday is Buggies Go Bush Day! Parents and caregivers with buggies or prams can enter the sanctuary for just $10 (and free for members). Each ticket is valid for two consecutive days.

•	Events such as Easter, Matariki, Conservation Week and Nature Day family friendly events and performances.

•	Drop-in activities and events such as craft workshops and performances.

•	Online resources such as a suite of fun activities for families eg making wildlife puppets or a whare wētā.

4 In 2019/20 Zealandia aimed for non-WCC grant revenues to exceed 75% of overall income and achieved 86% (excluding funding for living wage remuneration)

The Zealandia website www.visitzealandia.com contains lots of activities and resources and lesson plans for teachers which support the New Zealand curriculum. Examples include the Manu o Aotearoa teacher resource and an NCEA Biology Level 2 biology unit, created in partnership with the Takahē Recovery Programme and supported by the Science Learning Hub.
During COVID-19 lockdown, a virtual tour of Zealandia using Google Earth was launched.

Youth Collective
The Rāngai Rangatahi/ Youth Collective is a group of 12 young people, aged 15-18 and living in the Wellington region. It provides an opportunity for young people to work with other young people to make positive changes for taiao/nature and learn about Aotearoa’s wildlife through workshops and projects. The collective supports creativity, teamwork and practical skills.
All costs are covered, including transport and food so that there are no barriers to participation. Applications are encouraged using networks of youth workers as they can identify young people who would benefit from the opportunity. This programme is part-funded by T-Gear Charitable Trust and materials have been supported by Macpac and Bata Industrials.

Nature at Your Place
This programme provides a three-part nature experience to decile one to six schools. Participating classes have a nature rich experience through an in-class session, a fully-funded visit to Zealandia, and then a project back at school developing their own conservation or environmental project.
2019/20 was the first full year on the programme which enabled 25 schools to participate. The programme is funded through T-Gear Charitable Trust.

Predator Free Wellington
Zealandia ran the schools programme for the eastern suburbs as part of the Predator Free Mirimar project, under contract to Predator Free Wellington. While trapping and tracking is one tool for engagement and can open up further interest in the environment, this programme also expanded on students’ own ideas for nature engagement in the community. Outcomes included an art exhibition on nature (resulting in some going on display in Te Papa’s Te Taiao exhibition) and newsletters for the local community.

School holidays
There has been a focus on expanding the range of activities for children, young people and families during school holiday periods as well as creating programmes for external school holiday providers to visit Zealandia. Last financial year, programming for school holiday providers over the summer holidays resulted in 400 young people attended from across the Wellington region.
Summer in the Sanctuary is an annual series of family friendly drop-in activities that included storytelling and nature-themed puppet performances.

Pathways into conservation careers
Profiling opportunities for conservation related careers has been a recent focus for Zealandia. Conservation Career kōrero is a series of short films featuring Zealandia staff. The films show the many and varied daily tasks undertaken by staff. It shows their pathways to ‘land’ their current job and advice on conservation careers.
Zealandia has several relationships with agencies working with young people. They work closely with Ara Taiohi (Ministry of Youth Development) on helping young people connect with nature.

Wellington Zoo

Wellington City Council is the principal funder of the Wellington Zoo Trust. Children and young people are a key visitor group for Wellington Zoo and experience design focuses on ensuring children, young people and their families or caregivers have a great visit. Of the 250,000 visitors per annum, a majority involve children and young people – with family or caregivers or through school trips.

Schools
Wellington Zoo has a very strong learning and conservation focus and aims to help students get up close with animals, gain an understanding of the role of a progressive zoo, and learn about caring for the natural world.
Wellington Zoo is a Learning Experience Outside The Classroom (LEOTC) provider, and Zoo Educators help classes meet their learning objectives in a range of topics. Wellington Zoo offers a range of Learning Sessions across multiple topics for Years 0 – 8 and Years 9 - 13 which are tailored for teachers and aligned to the curriculum. Over 12,000 students participated in LEOTC sessions in 2018/19.
Zoo Educators also offer webinars for classes for virtual Zoo Learning Sessions.

Zoofari
Zoofari is a partnership with the Warehouse which provides funding for low decile schools (1-3) to visit the Zoo. The funding, which includes transport and learning session, covers the entire lower North Island (Hawkes Bay and Taranaki south).

Tertiary sector collaboration
The Nest Te Kōhanga helps develop New Zealand’s next generation of wildlife veterinarians. Since 2007 the Zoo has worked in partnership with the Massey University on the Masterate Programme in Zoo Animal and Wildlife Health, hosting four qualified vets each year to complete their Masterate and get hands on experience with injured wildlife.

Along with these residents, The Nest Te Kōhanga also provides a learning base for undergraduate veterinary, veterinary nurse and biological sciences students.
The Veterinary team collaborate with the Department of Conservation, Zealandia, Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington and other institutions on a range of conservation research projects each year.

Events
The Wellington Zoo has an extensive events programme, many of which enable greater accessibility for low income households. This includes the following.
•	Neighbours Night – free entry, animal talks and sausage sizzle for the surrounding households to thank them for hosting the Zoo in their community. Approximately 2000 neighbours attend, including nearby City Housing tenants.
•	Open Weekend – over 13,000 people attend this event every year for a gold coin donation, which goes straight to the Wellington Zoo Conservation Fund.
•	Winter Wednesdays – for a gold coin donation Wednesdays.
•	Late Fridays at the Zoo (Fridays in March) - Half Price Entry at 4pm or later to experience dusk at the Zoo.
•	Valentine’s night - this R18 event is a unique opportunity to visit the Zoo and celebrate romance.
•	In 2020, free entry was offered for several weeks after COVID lockdown – this attracted 50,000 visitors.

Bush Builders
The award-winning Bush Builders environmental literacy programme helps urban students discover for themselves the wonder of the world around them, in their own schools and homes, and empower them to take positive action in their own communities. We’re creating a tribe of conservation champions around Wellington.
Since Bush Builders began in 2007, over 4000 Wellington students have helped increase the city’s biodiversity one garden, bird house or lizard lair at a time.
The programme involves three phases for each school that takes part. It starts with a launch at Wellington Zoo, followed by a hands-on survey of wildlife at their school and ends with a student- driven conservation action. The Zoo provides resources with participating schools to create in- depth learning experiences for students throughout the year.

Volunteer opportunities
Wellington Zoo has a major volunteer programme, which is currently open to young people over the age of 18 years. There are three types of Volunteers at Wellington Zoo: Visitor Ranger Volunteers, Animal Care Volunteers and The Nest Te Kōhanga Volunteers. Opportunities for volunteers aged 15 - 18 are currently being explored.

Other
Other children and young person focussed offerings include the following.

•	Zoo crew memberships for frequent visitors - children under 14 must be supervised by an adult in the Zoo at all times.
•	A range of animal talks are presented daily by Zoo Rangers and Keepers. These all contain an important conservation message for visitors to take home.

•	Vets in The Nest Te Kōhanga provide an insight for children and young people on what would normally be happening behind the scenes. Children can see us treating native wildlife that has been brought in by the community as well as health checks on the Zoo’s own animals.
•	School holiday programmes – a themed school holiday programme at Wellington Zoo is very popular during the school holidays and well attended by the community. In 2018/19 approximately 1500 children participated across School Holiday programmes.
•	Zoo sleepovers - Sleepovers offer the opportunity for school groups, clubs like Guides and Scouts and birthday parties to stay over and experience the Zoo after everyone has gone home.

WellingtonNZ

WellingtonNZ is the Wellington region’s economic development, events and promotions agency. The following current activities at WellingtonNZ are focussed on young people.

•	Sponsorship of the regional work of Young Enterprise Trust.

o	Young Enterprise is a charity that offers senior secondary students the opportunity to set up and run their own business. They also produce curriculum based classroom resources and offer immersive experiences for young people on other skills such as problem solving, leadership and resilience.

•	Summer of Tech intern programme which places young people into tech, innovation or knowledge related roles over the summer holiday period.
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•	Creative HQ run the Venture Up programme https://www.ventureup.co.nz/.

o	Venture Up is an immersive course designed to support young aspiring leaders and changemakers. Since 2015, we have brought almost 300 youth together in a collaborative space and taught them essential entrepreneurial leadership skills for their future.

•	Work on the UNESCO Wellington City of Film will incorporate a specific focus on supporting rangatahi to tell their stories through the medium of film.

Events

WellingtonNZ deliver a range of events in the city. Events such as international sport and the recent Van Gogh exhibition appeal to all age groups but are delivered in a way that accommodates a great experience for children, young people and their families or caregivers.
Events that are specifically focussed on a young audience include the following.

•	Homegrown – is a Wellington Waterfront festival in March that attracts an audience of around 20,000 and showcases 40 bands and DJ's.

•	CubaDupa – a much loved outdoor arts and music festival, celebrating the unique character of Cuba Street, Wellington. It attracts up to 100,000 people and is particularly enjoyed by a young audience. The festival, managed and produced by the non-profit Creative Capital Arts Trust, is held each year over a weekend in late March.

•	Wellington on a Plate – has programming that is family friendly, as well as specific events for children and young people.

•	New Zealand Festival school arts programme - SchoolFest is the New Zealand Festival’s dynamic creative learning programme that gives students the chance to experience the best theatre, dance, music, literature, visual and cultural arts from New Zealand and internationally. 50% off standard ticket prices is offered in partnership with the Wellington Community Trust.