A Better Start: E Tipu e Rea
National Science ChallengeBetter science together for a better start in life
OUR CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE
Every child should have the best possible start in life. To achieve this A Better Start researchers are creating the tools and methods to predict, prevent and intervene early so children have a healthy weight, are successful learners and they can access the tools they need to look after their mental health.
A Better Start is the National Science Challenge working to help children, teenagers, their whanau and family achieve the best possible start in life. Our job is to find practical, evidence-based solutions that make a measurable difference for tamariki.
We can achieve this by working with communities, drawing together indigenous and Western approaches to knowledge and bringing together the best researchers from different disciplines here and overseas to take a holistic approach rather than addressing health, wellbeing and learning issues in isolation.
MULTIMILLION DOLLAR FUNDING FOR CHILD HEALTH RESEARCH
Joint Funding Round – A Better Start and Cure Kids
From the Director
A Better Start: E Tipu e Rea has more than 160 researchers delivering excellent science to give our tamariki a better start in life. They come from many different disciplines and organisations, but are united in their commitment. Our researchers share a collaborative approach and through the He Awa Whiria (braided rivers) model weave together knowledge from differing sources that flow together to progress the wellbeing of tamariki.
Ngā mihi,
Professor Wayne Cutfield
Challenge Director
About
The Science
Collaborative research and science excellence
News
Updates & events from A Better Start: E Tipu e Rea
News and events
Move to prevent later childhood obesity
Researchers are a step closer to developing a prediction model for childhood obesity in New Zealand. Childhood obesity is a serious public health challenge, and identifying high-risk individuals for early intervention is a priority. Worldwide, an estimated 40.6...
Screen time, sleep and food: Hawke’s Bay children’s habits the focus of A Better Start research
The sleep habits, screen time, physical activity and food intake of hundreds of Hawke’s Bay primary and secondary school students are coming under the scrutiny of A Better Start researchers. More than 1300 Year 5 and Year 9 students from almost 30 schools are...
Sleep treatment used by 1 in 4 NZ children with autism
One in four children on the autism spectrum in New Zealand are given melatonin to help them sleep, a new study co-authored by a Better Start National Science Challenge researcher has found. The study’s lead author Associate Professor Laurie McLay says the treatment,...
Meet The Researcher – Tania Cargo
Tania Cargo co-leads A Better Start’s Resilient Teens team, which is working with Māori and Pacific students, schools and communities to co-design and test a digital platform to offer young people and their families easier access to evidence-based help and advice to...
A Better Start professors elected as Fellows to Royal Society Te Apārangi
Congratulations to A Better Start's Deputy Director Gail Gillon and Māori Strategy theme leader Professor Helen Moewaka Barnes, who have both been elected Ngā Ahurei a Te Apārangi Fellows of the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. Being made a Fellow is an...
What are our children learning?
An innovative literacy programme is being rolled out to the nation's schools this year as part of the Ministry of Education's major new initiative to improve literacy outcomes for all New Zealand children. The Better Start Literacy Approach (BLSA) is an integrated...
E Tipu e Rea
Grow and Branch Forth
E Tipu e Rea is A Better Start’s Māori name.
In 1949, shortly before his death, Māori leader and scholar Sir Āpirana Turupa Ngata of Ngāti Porou wrote into the autograph book of schoolgirl Rangi Bennett a passage about his vision for Māori youth.
E tipu e rea mō ngā rā o tō ao
Ko tō ringa ki ngā rākau a te Pākehā
Hei ora mō te tinana
Ko tō ngākau ki ngā tāonga a ō tīpuna Māori
Hei tikitiki mō tō māhuna
Ko tō wairua ki tō atua
Nānā nei ngā mea katoa.
Grow and branch forth for the days destined to you
Your hands to the tools of the Pākehā
For the welfare of your body
Your heart to the treasures of your ancestors
adornments for your brow
Your spirit to god
Who made all things.
