"Education provides opportunities for individuals and families to realise their aspirations. Education is the pathway to employment and out of poverty. It is in the interests of the whole community to support healthy, happy, engaged learners.
"The Excel Rotorua Advisory Group has identified three over-arching priorities - School Readiness, Life Readiness and Parenting Readiness. The Action Plan specifies 13 projects that collectively create a continuum of support for learners and their whanau across all three priorities.
"The success of the Rotorua social sector trial is a result of the leadership and commitment shown by the key stakeholders. Led by the mayor, we have sitting at the table the education sector, Ngati Whakaue, the Rotorua Lakes Council and the five state sector agencies - Ministry of Education, Lakes DHB, Ministry of Justice, the NZ Police and Ministry of Social Development.
"The organising focus of change is relationships. It is through developing a strong cross sectorial team that we will see the change that we aspire to for Rotorua.
"It's too early yet to see a quantifiable shift in the statistics for Rotorua but we have evidence to indicate that we have successfully laid the building blocks for those shifts to occur. The next six to 12 months will be an exciting time as we embed some of the theory of collaboration into our everyday practice to create the Rotorua way."
Background
Excel Rotorua is the Rotorua social sector trial (SST). There are 16 SSTs throughout the country testing different approaches to cross agency collaboration. The Ministries of Social Development, Justice, Education, Health and the New Zealand Police are working together to trial a change in the way social services are delivered.
The Social Sector Trials focus on improving outcomes that reflect the needs of the community. In Rotorua the SST is targeted at those aged from 0-18 years with a particular focus on achieving the following outcomes:
• increasing participation in early childhood education
• improving literacy and numeracy achievement
• improving NCEA Level 2 achievement (or equivalent)
• clear pathways to further education, training and employment
• reducing risky behaviour in teens.
The aim of the Social Sector Trials is to support decision making at the local level, build on existing networks and strengthen co-ordination at every level of government and within the community. The trials test the ability of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) to use cross-agency resources to effect change in a community. In Rotorua Te Taumata o Ngāti Whakaue Iho Ake Trust has been engaged to manage the trial.
The Excel Rotorua Advisory Group provides cross-sector oversight of the Excel Rotorua Action Plan.
The Excel Rotorua Community Leadership Group provides advice and input to current and future activities initiated through Excel Rotorua. The group is convened by the mayor once every three months.
More information can be found at www.excelrotorua.co.nz.
