Rangatahi from Awhi Charitable Trust take a lesson at the beach.
Rangatahi from Awhi Charitable Trust take a lesson at the beach.
A Hastings programme is picking up local rangatahi after they’ve fallen through the cracks of mainstream education.
Awhi Charitable Trust was set up in 2021 by friends Vicki Welsby and Ben Brodie, who have backgrounds in community education.
The pair identified a need for more options suited for rangatahi thathad never regularly attended school, with needs unmet by the current education system.
Welsby said it’s usually through no fault of rangatahi that they’ve ended up in this position.
“These are kids coping with a combination of factors that might include trauma, poverty, neurodivergence, transience, and an inflexible education model,” she said.
The initiative was initially for 13 to 16-year-olds, but that senior programme is now supported by a small, community-funded junior programme for 9 to 12-year-olds.
Welsby said much of what’s learnt is around the concept of belonging.
“We’re not teachers, but we know how to create a safe, welcoming environment,” she said.
“We start with relationships. If the child feels safe, then learning can happen.”
To begin with, it’s all about the basics.
Āwhi aims to give its juniors structure and routine.
It starts with toast and Milo in the morning, then it’s a chat about the day, morning mahi, maybe some sport, lunch, and then rangatahi are taken to the outdoors to burn off some energy.
Rangatahi from Awhi Charitable Trust take a lesson in the redwoods at Te Mata Peak.
“These are those fundamental building blocks of education that don’t even include formalised reading and writing,” said Welsby.
“We teach lessons that centre around being with each other, following an instruction, getting along with our peers.
“It’s really beautiful to see our successes because often, these are children living tough lives. For them, at a regular school, it’s easier to be angry than it is to describe what they are struggling with. And now, they’re at the park with a stick playing sword fights or kicking a soccer ball, being children.”
Currently, Awhi has an Alternative Education contract with the Ministry of Education for the senior programme (13 to 16-year-olds), many of whom then transition into vocational training or employment.
But the trust is 100% reliant on community funding to operate the junior programme. Grants from the likes of the Hawke’s Bay Foundation are essential.
“If that funding stopped, we’d be back to square one. And for some of these kids, that means sitting at home,” Welsby said.
She said parents who’ve fought to get their child out the door to school now watch them happy to head off, excited for the day.
“You see a shift in the pattern of the whānau, because if there’s been an older sibling who is just not going anywhere every day, that is a message to the younger siblings,” she said.
“Once you break that, the family can really change. They know we’re a whānau that goes to school now.”
But there’s much more Awhi wants to do, but it’s community funding through the likes of Hawke’s Bay Foundation, that will help make it happen.
“We’re preparing for growth, because we’re hearing of kids getting kicked out of school aged 6 or 7. Some are being excluded from kindergarten,” Welsby said.
“These are kids who don’t deserve less – they deserve to be accessing everything they need and want.”
