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For many kids, heading back to school may be a source of anxiety after a long period of lockdown and the school holidays. Kristina Ineson Operations Manager for Y Out of School Care shares her top tips on easing the transition back to school.

After 100 days or so of lockdown we opened our doors to our members, and it’s been wonderful to see the excitement and happiness in centres. Especially from our GoldFit community. For our new members – YMCA GoldFit is an exercise programme for our seniors group. A social bunch who loves to keep active together and when they are not working out you can see them catch up over a cup of tea and laughs. Oh what FUN!

While Covid and lockdown bring a certain amount of stress to just about everyone, the complexities of lockdown life affect young people in a multitude of ways. Raise Up Youth Programme Coordinator Caitrin Mooney and Raise Up Crew Member Aira Li break down simple life hacks to help motivate young people coming out of the lockdown space.

At last, we are out of lockdown, which means fitness centres can reopen again. Many of us will be eager to get back to our pre-lockdown fitness levels in time for summer. Lead Physiotherapist Sithon Sok from Physio Rehab Group shares their top tips on how to get back into the swing of things without causing yourself injury at the gym.

During our first session of the multi-sport drop-in zone at YMCA Lagoon Stadium, we had parents who brought their children with special needs to participate in this programme. As this number grew to an average of 15 families participating on a weekly basis, we wanted to provide a programme that would benefit this community - so their children felt safe, secure and had a sense of belonging to help them thrive.

The Outward Bound (OB) course is all about discovering your full potential through challenge and adventure in the outdoors. Every year, the YMCA partnership scheme makes scholarships available for our employees to enable them to take this opportunity. This year, Claudia Fraser, an outdoor instructor from YMCA Camp Adair, shares her time at the Outward Bound, as she calls this a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

The YMCA's youth development programme, Raise Up is always looking for new ways to get involved and help out in the community. One such event was when the Raise Up crew planned a disco night with the seniors in our community. Shreya Badal, the organiser and one of Raise Up's prefects within the Puketapapa crew, shares the story.

You might feel the easiest solution is to ban your young person from all leisure use of devices or place strict rules around usage; but the most likely outcome of these sorts of ‘helicopter parent’ strategies is to drive your young person underground – they’ll continue to use, they just won’t tell you about it. There are better, trust-focused strategies that are far more likely to keep your young person safe online – Here's our top five ways to help you out.

The Apprenticeship Boost Initiative launched by the government last year supports employers with funding, enabling them to offer staff, access to an on-the-job qualification. This scheme has enabled us to provide a fantastic opportunity for our staff to undertake an apprenticeship while they work, and obtain an industry qualification. Staff members Grace Thompson and Belinda Jooste share their experiences and the value this course is bringing to their professional lives.

After the COVID-19 lockdowns, 17% of young people in Aotearoa are continuing to experience isolation and prolonged loneliness (Loneliness New Zealand Charitable Trust). In light of the increased need for support, we have established new Raise Up crews in South Auckland to provide more young people with opportunities to develop, connect and grow.

It’s that time of year again where we start noticing a few coughs and colds going around telling us that winter is here. Casey McLain, Fitness and Recreation Operations Manager at YMCA North shares his top five tips for staying physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy this winter.

Term 2 has seen the pilot of the brand new Y-Bots programme introduced into after-school care at Sunnybrae Normal School and Warkworth School. Kids showed much enthusiasm and engagement being introduced to coding and robotics.