Five eastern Rotorua schools say forming strong connections with local hapū has helped improve student attendance.
Rather than tackling the issue alone, the schools say members of the wider community are only "a phone call away" for support.
Rotokawa School, Lynmore Primary, Ōwhata School, Mokoia Intermediate and Rotorua Lakes HighSchool make up the eastern Rotorua Kāhui Ako, along with 11 early childhood centres.
Each school has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, agreeing to create iwi seats on their boards of trustees for years to come.
This came after the schools' land was returned to iwi in the 2008 Te Arawa settlement.
Ngāti Te Roro o te Rangi, Ngati Tuteniu and Ngāti Uenukukōpako kaumātua Paraone Pirika previously said the return of this land "created an obligation" for local schools.
Ōwhata School principal Bob Stiles said student absenteeism was less of a problem now than it was 10 years ago.
"It was certainly a problem. Ten years ago we would have sent them a letter, which no one would have read," he said.
"We reviewed our whānau engagement and it wasn't very good at all. So we bought the hapū in and the Ministry of Education, and looked at what we needed to do to change it."
It was important to recognise that the school belonged to the community, and to identify barriers impacting student attendance, Stiles said.
Community nurses and counsellors were now called upon when whānau support was needed.
"Ownership goes back to the whānau and the hapū. And we work for those communities.
"It's about looking at how we can help."
Employing local whānau as teacher aides had also helped make the school a more inviting environment.
Some of those aides had since become teachers, training at Whakatāne-based Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi.
"They have tamariki at the school, or they went to the school. It is really neat," Stiles said.
"They came in and started working at the school and now it is a place where everybody feels welcome. It just changes the whole balance of power.
"And for our kids, they look at those people and think 'I can do that, I can be like them'."
Rotokawa School principal Regan Williams, who started as principal in early 2019, said working with the local hapū had created positive change within the school.
Rotokawa School principal Regan Williams (left) signing a memorandum of understanding with Paraone Pirika in 2019. Photo / NZME
They were now able to "call on the locals" for assistance when students weren't attending.
"It's a phone call away to Paraone to talk to him about whānau that may not be here. He helps us with going out to whānau or using the local hapū groups to help us get students back.
"There is definitely a change, because the hapū and the iwi know a lot of the whānau around here."
Rotorua Lakes High School principal Jon Ward said a school could not tackle the issue of absenteeism alone. They had "absolutely" seen attendance improve since developing a relationship with local hapū.
They were yet to appoint an iwi representative, but Ward said it was something the school was working towards.
"You have to have the community invested in it. And when everybody is working towards the same goal it develops better outcomes."
Ward said they would try to address the "root cause" when dealing with the issue.
"It is often not just 'I don't want to go to school'. There can be a whole raft of issues that come in behind it."
"Having the hapū and iwi onboard means we are not just talking as a school, we are talking as an entire community."
He said whānau navigators and learning support co-ordinators were able to engage with absent students outside of the classroom.
Rotorua Lakes High School principal Jon Ward. Photo / NZME
"A lot of it is around developing support in terms of people who can go out and help families.
"We now have things in place, that when attendance does become an issue we can support those students to see the benefits of actually being at school."
Pirika said the hapū, who created an education strategy in 2008, were determined to improve attendance among schools on the east side of Rotorua.
"Numbers were falling in the schools, so that was our first indicator," he said.
"Part of our strategy was to improve attendance. It is all about that collective, community working together. Getting people to buy into a simple kaupapa based around having a safer community to nurture our tamariki."
Another goal of the strategy was to bring the five schools together as a collective, he said.
"Way back then, schools were their own boss instead of working for their community.
"The schools that are on board now are working for our east side community. There is more of a collective mindset now, there is some good synergy going on.
"The data is in the feel of the community, and you can't get that unless you are in there."
Stiles said it was important that schools worked collaboratively and shared resources.
"Matua Paraone has always said to us we need to get on better, start talking and break down walls. Slowly we have been, and it has made a huge difference to our community," he said. "We don't want to have our schools in silos."
But he said despite huge improvements there was still more work to be done.
"We aren't perfect. There are tamariki that still aren't coming to school, there are things we have got to work on, but it has certainly helped to improve things."
