Auckland – 29 September 2021 – Northland’s Oromahoe School was today named as the first winner of a $10,000 sports grant in AA Insurance’s Big Little Sponsorship.
Lockdown didn’t stop the insurer from announcing the North Island winner of its annual sponsorship programme for primary schools, with support from Eden Park Trust – it simply became a virtual event.
Today, Oromahoe’s children gathered in their school houses for a reveal party which started with a pre-recorded video from former All Black Keven Mealamu, AA Insurance’s Head of Brand and Marketing Melodie Vickars, and Eden Park CEO, Nick Sautner. The children were then treated to a catered morning tea.
“This is a wonderful celebration and we’re delighted to present Oromahoe School, that has a supportive community around them, with this very deserving prize,” says Melodie.
This year marks the competition opening to the rest of New Zealand, with the winning South Island primary school to be announced after the October school holidays. In addition, one lucky teacher from each winning school will be awarded the ‘Ultimate Eden Park Experience’ (at an appropriate time) to acknowledge their commitment.
The competition received over 3,200 nominations from 771 primary schools, which made the decision a difficult one for judges, she says.
“Most nominations we received for Oromahoe mentioned that they currently have a makeshift bamboo goal post set up, courtesy of the community, after their previous goalpost disintegrated,” says Melodie. “They would love to get a proper goal set up not only for the school, but for the whole community to use for sports practice and on the weekends.”
Keven, who has been behind the campaign as its ambassador since it began in 2018, is an advocate for kids getting involved in sport from an early age.
“It’s good for kids to play sport; they talk to people and learn to work together. They also learn respect for their team-mates and opposition. And they learn that it takes hard work to achieve something worth achieving.
“The Big Little Sponsorship is a cool way to champion sport in schools and help invigorate the passion for sport,” says Keven.
About AA Insurance
AA Insurance is a New Zealand-based joint venture between Vero Insurance New Zealand Limited and the New Zealand Automobile Association Limited ('NZAA'). Vero is owned by Suncorp Group Limited, a listed Australian company. NZAA is an incorporated society that is governed by a National Council and Board. Since 1994 we have provided home, contents and car insurance in New Zealand and in 2018 we introduced small business insurance.
We underwrite our own policies and sell direct to New Zealanders. Our New Zealand-based teams looks after 560,000+ customers with more than 1,100,000 policies. Standard and Poor's (Australia) Pty Ltd has given us an Insurer Financial Strength Rating of AA- (Very Strong).
We are consistently recognised in industry awards and honours. This includes being voted the Reader's Digest Most Trusted General Insurer for 14 years running, named Canstar's 2023-2024 Outstanding Value Award winner for Home and Contents insurance and ranked 6th among 50 of New Zealand's top consumer-facing corporates in the Kantar Corporate Reputation Index in 2024.
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