Ruakākā School is proudly located near picturesque Bream Bay, about a half hour’s drive south of Whangārei. Mount Manaia dominates the horizon and features in the pepeha of more than half the tamariki of the area. The mountain erupted about twenty million years ago and is now blanketed in a thick coat of native bush. A reserve forms the perimeter of the spiky peaks and steep cliffs which can be explored via a walking track all the way to the summit. The one-and-a-half-hour trek rewards the climber with spectacular views of the Whangārei harbour entrance.
The pure white sand of Bream Bay, protected by expansive tussock sandhills, would tempt the most reluctant exerciser to an early morning walk or sunset stroll. The beach is patrolled by the Ruakākā Surf Life Saving Club in the summer, making it a safe place to swim, fish, kayak or raft. Outdoor enthusiasts would be challenged to find a more alluring landscape to explore.
Ruakākā is a small urban area with a rural aspect. It boasts a growing population of 2,930 with just over 20 per cent under the age of 15 years. Whilst 42 per cent of those over 15 years old are full time employed, the median income is $26,000, some $6,000 below the national median income. The population is about one third Māori.
The school and its substantial grounds are situated on Sandford Road, just off State Highway 1. It is close to both the Ruakākā River and Bream Bay. Originally opened in 1896 at North Ruakākā, the school was moved to its current location in 1912. Since then, it has undergone several upgrades and is in the middle of another as I visit.
Despite the construction disruptions, Ruakākā School draws you in with its strong, bold colours and tidy, expansive gardens and playgrounds. The school’s strategic plan clarifies that a safe, inclusive and attractive physical environment has a positive impact on the hauora of tamariki.
It is a vibrant, upbeat atmosphere in the school’s front foyer, as parents drop off their tamariki. The setting is deliberately bicultural with teachers greeting parents and children in both Māori and English and parents and children responding in kind.
Tumuaki, Helen Kinsey-Wightman led me to Te Pā Harakeke,a cluster of five full immersion Te Reo Māori learning environments. This newly built space is where visitors are formally welcomed and entertained by tamariki, who are well versed in tikanga.
‘We used to have four bilingual classes and just one full immersion class, but whānau drove the change for all the bilingual classes to become full immersion,’ said Helen. ‘Whānau want their tamariki to be fluent in te reo and they want to learn alongside them,’ she said.
Having five rumaki reo (full immersion) classes has also led to roll growth, particularly of Māori ākonga, who already make up 56 per cent of the school’s roll, and 99 per cent of the full immersion classes.
‘All kaiako teaching in Te Whānau Harakeke give up their own time to go to wānanga,’ said Helen, ‘And the lead teacher is currently on study leave at Waikato University.’
‘Kaiako in Te Whānau Harakeke have a huge weight on their shoulders, and we must give them all the support we can. They are the ones doing the mahi which benefits all of us,’ explained Helen.
At every staff meeting, teachers learn a new phrase in te reo, and the Māori Language Programme funding means that tamariki in English medium are also increasing their use of te reo. ‘In this way we are enacting Te Tiriti o Waitangi responsibilities, and integrating bicultural practices throughout the school,’ Helen explained.
Given the current Government’s moves to dilute the influence of Te Tiriti and growth of te reo, I asked Helen what she thought about the Treaty Principles Bill.
‘Across the motu Kura Kaupapa Māori, rumaki reo and bilingual units are flourishing,’ she said, ‘and the Treaty Principles Bill just takes us backwards.’
‘But I don’t believe it will happen, because we have come too far,’ she said. ‘It may have the opposite effect, and we all dig in.’
Tamariki Māori succeed as Māori at Ruakākā and the school’s enduring relationship with the close-by Takahiwai marae, means the school’s broad curriculum is well supported.
Local iwi Patuharakeke are keenly aware that healthy people need a healthy environment and work hard to play an effective role in local environmental management and decision-making. Ruakākā school is a ‘Green/Gold Enviro School’, runs the ‘Garden to Table’ programme and has beehives from which ‘Tahi Honey’ is produced.
Helen explained that the school’s whānau don’t always have the time to grow veggie gardens at home, so tamariki don’t have the opportunity to learn how cultivating their own kai can benefit them.
The ‘Garden to Table’ programme means tamariki learn how to create a garden, build it up, feed it, plant it, water it and harvest the produce to cook a meal. It’s a brilliant programme, filled with fun and gives tamariki a strong sense of success, when they sit down to share a meal, they have cooked themselves, from produce they have grown and harvested themselves.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, every school wants to improve every day, and every school aspires for every child to be successful. If there is one barrier standing in the way of schools achieving these goals, it is Learning Support!
At Ruakākā school, Helen has a roll of 350 and 53 per cent of her tamariki are on the learning support register. ‘I don’t think [politicians] have any understanding of what it’s like in a classroom in New Zealand,’ she said.
‘For a mix of reasons, there are a growing number of tamariki who struggle to regulate their emotions,’ said Helen. ‘For some it’s a result of traumatic experiences, neurodiversity, a lack of role models; for many it’s transience because of housing problems, and for a few it’s addiction of family membersto alcohol or drugs like methamphetamine. Some are living away from their parents, with grandparents or other relations. These situations create trust and shame issues for tamariki who are always ‘on guard’. Some have no protection in their lives – no one has their back. Much of this is linked to poverty and colonisation. Trying to build self esteemin these tamariki is challenging,’ she said.
‘We are very lucky to have a Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCo) in our school who has extensive experience in supporting neurodiverse tamariki,’ says Helen. The challenge is that much of her time is taken up in completing applications for funding rather than being able to use her considerable expertise in supporting tamariki. Helen’s SENCo is well known in the district for her talents and professional expertise with neurodiverse students, so Ruakākā has become a popular school for families with children needing extra learning support.
‘On the one hand, that can be a blessing,’ says Helen, ‘but it also stretches our ability to meet all the needs. The most helpful thing any Government could do is give every classroom a kaiawhina, a teacher aide,’ she said.
During my brief visit, Helen is interrupted three times, to support teachers with youngsters struggling with self-regulation. The school follows the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) and Restorative Practice Programmes which, overall, are a good fit for tamariki at the school – but sometimes, they will still ‘boil over’.
‘What we try to do is to build a culture where positive behaviour and learning is a way of life,’ said Helen. ‘PB4L is tailored to our school’s context and cultural needs,’ she said. ‘It’s all about changing the environment and practices to support tamariki to make positive behaviour choices,’ she said. ‘Then it’s about reinforcing positive behaviours when we see them, so they become embedded, but we have to make sure our expectations are clear and consistent,’ she said.
All of this takes time and effort, and some tamariki take longer than others to turn around negative or anti-social behaviours.
Expectations at Ruakākā School are manifest through the school’s values, which greet you at the school’s front entrance. The first letter of each of the five values is displayed on five giant sized, outrageously colourful flowerpots and read the word SHINE.
The values are:
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Show respect (Whakaute)
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Helpful (manaakitanga)
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Inclusive (Kotahitanga)
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Never give up (Papahueke)
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Enviro Guardians (Kaitiakitanga).
It would be difficult to miss the SHINE values. They are prominently displayed in every classroom, and every space, including in a mural on the side of an outdoor playhouse, which colourfully screams ‘Permission to Shine!’
A further mantra is the motto of the school: ‘We love to learn together’ – Ka aroha tatou ki te ako tahi. Like the values, this mantra is visible in multiple spaces across the school.
I ask Helen how she feels about the Government’s introduction of structured literacy and structured mathematics.
‘At our school we are already doing structured literacy, and our PLD is led by expert kaiako who are very good,’ she said. ‘We currently have 0.8 staffing for Reading Recovery four days a week which allows us to provide small group support and we really need to retain that support staffing for structured literacy,’ she said.
To be successful Helen said schools need more staffing right across the board. She said introducing both mathematics and structured literacy by the start of 2025 is far too much at once. ‘Where do we get all the relievers from, so teachers can attend PLD?’ she said.
Helen acknowledged that she is lucky to have a good team of relievers whom she values. They are always invited to participate in school activities and celebrations, so they feel part of the wider school community. To cover all the new PLD on top of the regular classroom release time and teacher illness, however, will be a stretch.
She acknowledged that the PLD for literacy and mathematics is free, which is great, but a further problem for schools like Ruakākā is the travel and accommodation costs for teachers to attend PLD, which is more likely to be held in the city.
Helen has been leading Ruakākā school for just 18 months, so I asked her what made her feel most proud about the school.
‘Our practical enactment of te Tiriti o Waitangi,’ she said. ‘I am so proud of our rumaki reo with five classes, and that we have given Te Whānau Harakeke our brand new classrooms and they are running so well. That is a big achievement,’ she said. ‘That links to our strong relationships with Patuharakeke, our local iwi, Takahiwai marae and our whānau,’ she said.
‘Another thing we are doing is to follow the Maramataka – the Māori calendar. When we are planning an event we try to check the Maramataka. When we have a really crazy day with lots of unexpected events, we go back and check the Maramataka and we often see that it is a high energy day. ‘The new buildings have meant that tamariki have less open space to play. So we are upgrading our outdoor playground and adding a new space to maximise the play area. Part of that is building a new bike track. Because we are right next to State Highway 1 our kids can’t bike to school, so we have a container full of bikes and funding from Bike Northland for the bike track. This gives tamariki another outdoor activity to get involved in, and burn off some energy,’ she said.
Ruakākā is a beautiful school, filled with energy, colour and positivity. It has a clear set of values that drive behavioural expectations, a strong environmental perspective and solid bicultural base – and it is most unlikely that any Government’s Treaty Principles Bill will derail the progress made to enact Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Ruakākā school.
It is a strong community, committed to the kaupapa, with determined, moral leadership, and the collective will to offer every child the very best education possible. Some strong Government policy on increasing staffing levels and funding for learning support would accelerate progress for everyone, and greatly improve the future economic, social and emotional prospects for all tamariki in Ruakākā – but I doubt Helen Kinsey-Wightman is banking on those extra staff any time soon.