Rotorua Trust dedicates more money for local students

The programme has been run for the past 17 years. Photo / Supplied

Rotorua Trust has committed an additional $250,000 to Ngāti Whakaue education initiatives for the 2020 school year.

The joint venture between the trust and Ngāti Whakaue Education Endowment Trust began in late 2018 when Rotorua Trust contributed $250,000 to support local schools with literacy and numeracy programmes, according to a written statement from Rotorua Trust.

The programme has been run by Ngāti Whakaue Education Endowment Trust for the past 17 years, and it was already successful. But the extra funding has extended it into more schools to help students who are under-achieving in critical areas.

Rotorua Trust chairman Stewart Edward said the Rotorua Trust funding has extended the offer of support to all Rotorua schools, not just those with high numbers of Ngāti Whakaue pupils.

"The initiative is unique because schools or education centres can tailor a specific programme to suit the needs of their students and what works best for them.

"The programme fits with the trust's priority areas of funding projects which support education and strengthening our communities and we want to continue helping any child in Rotorua who is not reaching their full potential."

Lynmore School was a grant recipient in 2019.

Principal Lorraine Taylor said they are privileged to have been able to access the support and that grant funds are making a real difference to students.

"The grant has allowed us to have teachers and teacher aides trained in the use of the Sharp Reading Programme which is a specifically designed reading comprehension programme. It covers phonics, decoding, comprehension and interventions for the struggling older reader.

"The support of the Ngāti Whakaue Education Endowment Trust and Rotorua Trust has given around 400 students and their teachers and teacher aides an opportunity to access high quality reading programmes to help ensure every child reaches their potential in reading which is the basis for all other learning.

"A staggering 89 per cent of our students have already met the end-of-year reading expectation which is a fantastic result for us all."

The numbers show that 1522 extra learners across 38 local schools and education centres will be supported this year by the programme