Eastern Bay Trades Academy students with owner Steve Mahy. Photo / Alexa Cook, RNZ
By Alexa Cook of RNZ
A building programme for college kids in Ōpōtiki is giving hard-to-reach students career options they never thought possible, while boosting school attendance.
The Eastern Bay Trades Academy is owned and run by John Gilmour and Steve Mahy, and is funded by the Bay of Plenty Futures Academy. They take on about 15 students a year who learn on the job and gain their NCEA level 3 at the same time.
The students build about four relocatable houses a year on a site at the back of Ōpōtiki College. Ranging in size from two to four bedrooms, the houses are mostly sold to Kāinga Ora and used for local housing.
For students like Te Raiwa Maki, the course has given her new options for the future.
“School was boring and most of the subjects I already knew. Building was something I had no idea about and I wanted to do, and learn how to use the tools.
“It’s good, I’ve learnt so much, I didn’t think I could learn this much in a year,” she said.
Oaariki Waititi was also enjoying being out of the classroom.
“I’d just moved back from the coast and came here ... and saw there was an opportunity for trade.
“It’s good here, better than sitting in the classroom. Next year I’ll be going for an apprenticeship,” he said.
The project began about four years ago as a partnership between Ōpōtiki College and Te Whakatōhea Trust, but when some funding was cut, the iwi had to pull out.
Steve and John decided to take on the challenge and renamed the programme the “Eastern Bay Trades Academy”. In order to survive, they’ve broadened it out to also sell the homes privately, which reduces the reliance on Kāinga Ora buying homes.
It was tough in the building industry at the moment, as Kāinga Ora had reduced the number of homes it usually ordered, Gilmour said.
“It’s very tricky out there for building companies at the moment and I think we’ve done well to stay afloat this year, especially with Kāinga Ora limiting the number of houses they’ve given us.
“This year has been really challenging and we are trying to sell them privately to keep the kids busy, really because without houses to build ... the programme isn’t as effective as it could be,” he said.
The hands-on learning experience could be life-changing for many of the hard-to-reach kids in the Ōpōtiki area, Gilmour said.
“A lot of them are disengaged in school and they’re attending sort of 30 to 40% of the time, and then after a year with us we see that attendance rate jump up to the 80-90% mark.
“It speaks a thousand words in just giving kids something they are engaged in and want to come to school for, ” he said.
About 60% of the students went on to professional trade apprenticeships, and the building programme hires two students from each year as apprentices to help them out.
As a licensed builder with a teaching background, Steve Mahy said the students were treated like adults and it was rewarding to see how much they mature over the year-long course.
“They might be ratbags in the classroom, but because they are out here doing something they like a bit more, you can see changes and their actions prove it
“They just grow up and are ready to go into the world,” he said.
While a number of schools in Aotearoa offer building programmes, Gilmour said theirs was the only one to run it as a private company.
“I think that is kinda of like how it works so well because you’re not micro-managed by a principal, you can run all your own employment and payroll.
“Whereas in a school system it’s very complicated what you can pay people ... this gives us a lot more flexibility and is the best way for the kids,” he said.
Gilmour and Mahy would love to replicate the business model around the country and give more students the chance to learn a useful trade while completing their academic requirements.
“We’ve got visions of seeing this set up in other schools so other kids can benefit from what these Ōpōtiki students are getting right now,” Gilmour said.
-RNZ