Top school makes te reo compulsory

King's College headmaster Bradley Fenner. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Te reo Maori is finding a home in one of the country's most prestigious schools.

Earlier this year, exclusive Auckland private school King's College made te reo Maori a compulsory subject for all Year Nine students.

King's College headmaster Bradley Fenner says the response from the school's community has been encouraging and he is optimistic that it will continue to grow.

"The response has been positive and there has been no resistance, but at this time te reo remains optional above Year Nine," said Mr Fenner.

"This is its first year. Before I started last year, there was talk about teaching some Maori culture but we wanted to look at introducing the Maori language and the key thing was finding the right person to deliver it and we were very fortunate to have Lincoln Savage join our team.

"It's vital to all of the Year Nine students and they complete a full half-year programme. That's lessons most days for six months," said Mr Fenner.

Involved with the programme since its inception in February, te reo Maori teacher Lincoln Savage says the initiative aims to give students an insight and perspective into te ao Maori (the Maori world).

"These are the future leaders of our country so improving the understanding between our cultures can only be a good thing," he said.

"It's an awesome programme to have in place at Year Nine and to be a part of it is a privilege. Looking to the future, in five years time, every student would have done Maori."

Mr Savage said he had received emails of support from parents whose children were enjoying the te reo classes and was adamant of the importance of its place in the school's curriculum.

"I believe that if it's not included in school at this time, they might not get an opportunity again."

"When they go to university to do law and medicine there will be a Maori component to those papers, so this work will give them a better perspective of how to work with and treat Maori families."

Deputy headmaster Phillip Coombe said the te reo programme had made a significant contribution to the school environment.

"We are very proud of our [te reo] Maori programme and the success of our kapa haka group's efforts earlier this year adds to that. We have a marvellous programme and te reo teacher in Lincoln Savage."

Despite the programme's infancy, Mr Coombes is hopeful students will continue to study it beyond Year Nine as it settles into the school's curriculum.

"It's not high in terms of percentages - I think it's less than a dozen students at each level. The uptake hasn't been strong at Year 10 but I would hope that once the programme is embedded in the curriculum then it will just follow through. We would like to think that it's on the upward."

Mr Fenner said he was pleased with the outcome of the programme to date and said if the pupils' desire to learn te reo increased, then the school would continue to offer the best resources.

"We will leave no stone unturned to get the best possible [teacher] options," said Mr Fenner.

"All along, our language teachers said if we were going to do it, we had to do it properly."