Tauranga’s new Kura Wairoa targets truant kids with holistic Māori learning and healing

Lennex Mohi likes learning but says at school she was treated differently because ‘I’m from the hood and gangs’. The 17-year-old says she went off the rails and has been in trouble. But now she has found solace in a unique school programme in Tauranga, Kura Waiora, which helps teenagers who don’t fit into traditional education systems find hope through mindful well-being and self-discovery, As part of Poverty in Paradise, a series on Tē Tuinga Whānau Support Services Trust, Carmen Hall reports.

Lennex Mohi is moving around the boxing ring.

She is quick on her feet and fast with her hands.

She wipes sweat from her brow as the song Stumbling In blares in the background.

“I’ve started feeling good about myself. I’m doing okay.”

She is among a group of teenagers who are learning how to box in a gym as part of the Kura Waiora programme which comes under the umbrella of Tē Tuinga Whānau Support Services Trust.

The kura was kickstarted with funding from New Zealand Community Trust in conjunction with I Am Hope and is now funded by the Ministry for Social Development under its He Poutama Rangatahi (Youth Employment Pathways) scheme.

The first cohort of five pupils at the kura has since grown to 12 and, like Mohi, all have struggled in the mainstream school system. The course launched in Tauranga on May 1.

Mohi says she has faced a lot of trauma in her short life but she’s determined it will not define her.

She liked school and learning but didn’t gel with the teachers and found herself getting into trouble.

“I’m from the hood and gangs”.

Mohi credits her nan for having a major influence on her and always being there despite the challenges.

In the future, she wants to do a building apprenticeship but for the time being, she is happy.

Lennex Mohi is making great progress at Kura Wairoa. Photo / Alex Cairns

A fellow student, aged 13, hopes of being a scaffolder one day. He is shy and reserved and a teenager of few words.

He says he didn’t enjoy school and stopped going but he has come to Kura Wairoa.

Kaiarataki (team lead) of Kura Waiora, Erena Rangi Koopu, says the aim of the unique course is simple: “Reset, realign and return back to self through cultural connection”.

A social worker and spiritual healer, she says a lot of rangatahi (youth) did not fit into the mainstream education system. Koopu could relate to that as she left school at age 15 and was considered the “weird kid”.

“We can all get lost in this big, wild world. In some ways, we are all conditioned and programmed to think that one way is supposed to suit everybody and we’re in a box. You are expected to go to school and do exactly what they want you to do how you are told to do it.

“Some rangatahi have got their own way of expressing themselves and their own way of learning. We want to capture that and grow that.”

Koopu says she believes the students are the “designers of their own destiny. You need to get rid of all that stigma… the sort of crap that has been drummed into you like you are dumb or stupid.”

“I want them to really understand you can do whatever you want. I tell them you can choose to be whatever you want.”

Kaiarataki o Kura Waiora Erena Rangi Koopu. Photo / Alex Cairns

The programme encompasses mindful thinking, spirituality, yoga and healing with a curriculum that listens to what the students want and is flexible enough to adapt to those needs.

The kura is run out of Whare Waiora, a two-storied building and former hairdressing academy in the Tauranga CBD that has murals paying homage to Māori legends and history.

These include Parawhenuamea, who was the first teardrop that fell from the sky, and Tamanui te ra, a personification of the sun who works with Hina Marama to bring light and life over the world.

Koopu says it’s been two months since they opened and while there have been a few hiccups, she is happy with where it’s at. Two students including Mohi have secured work experience and she was proud of those who made the commitment to show up every day.

“The world is their oyster.”

Happy Puku founder Stephen Wilson is teaching kids like Lennex Mohi cooking skills. Photo / Alex Cairns

Ministry for Social Development employment programmes director Amy Henare says Te Tuinga Whānau is a new provider with its Whakawātea te ara Poutama initiative - a subset of He Poutama Rangatahi - and its $1.6 million contract to June 2025 is part of the “Better Pathways” package.

“The goal of the programme is to support rangatahi to address personal barriers, become work-ready and transition into employment, or training, or back into education. It provides work-readiness and employment training programmes targeted at rangatahi at most risk of long-term unemployment.

“Whakawātea te ara Poutama participants are also likely to be involved, or at risk of being involved in criminal and or gang activity.”

He Poutama Rangatahi has annual funding of $33m and was established in 2018.

Tē Tuinga executive director Tommy Wilson says Kura Wairoa is special and could be replicated throughout Aotearoa.

“We are a kura that looks after many who have fallen through the cracks and is instrumental in healing communities that have become broken because of the perfect storm of P, poverty and the pandemic.”

He said a wide range of educational and life skills are taught including weekly visits to Happy Puku, which makes meals for the homeless.

Meet the teachers

Leigh Patuawa was a school teacher for nearly 30 years and left the profession at the end of 2022 after “we stopped talking about the things we should be”.

Patuawa established Soul Learning, which has an in-school online programme that has been picked up by seven secondary schools around the country and is a part of the kura’s curriculum she will be teaching.

It is designed to help students connect with their wairua (spirit, soul) and believe in themselves. The idea eventuated from her own experience.

“The reason why I’m so excited is when I was a little girl, I had some trauma that doesn’t sound huge, but I lost my mum. I became the mum or the head of the household at 9 years old and then from that point on, I just pushed that sadness down and never spoke about it again.

“It’s taken me until this time in my life to unpack some of that and actually find myself and realise I have a lot to offer. This is sort of stuff I wish I had known back then and it’s really helped me a lot.”

Some of the learning topics include resilience, identity, your journey, being balanced, emotions, self-love, intuition, being vulnerable, being brave and forgiveness.

Erena Rangi Koopu says she is impressed with her students. Photo / Carmen Hall

Nothing But Everything owner Nick Funnell’s mantra is “with more energy comes more action and more results”.

He believes when feeling energetic is a habit, it’s hard to stop the snowball rolling. That is what he will teach students at the kura.

“I enjoy working with youth and the younger you can start a good mindset the better it is. It is definitely a new approach to look at how to evolve a person from where they are to where they want to be.”

“The kids aren’t here because of any other reason other than, you know, it’s a circumstance - so how do you work with that circumstance in order to find more hope, meaning, passion, and drive by just using your mind?”

Your Happy Place owner Rochelle Hawes has been helping young people for years and has also developed programmes for youth and the workplace and is looking forward to helping students at the kura.

“I love working with youth, they are so amazing and have so much potential inside themselves but they just don’t know it yet.”

The mother-of-three says the escalating mental well-being problems among youth mean it makes sense to teach students ways to promote and protect their own well-being.

“We are here to teach them their past doesn’t define their future. It’s all about bringing out the very best inside them by building up their confidence and giving them the knowledge, the tools, and the ability to learn and grow and be the best they can be.”

Carmen Hall is a news director for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, covering business and general news. She has been a Voyager Media Awards winner and a journalist for 25 years.