Ngā Puāwai is an 8-week Te Ao Māori lens programme for kōtiro in school years 7-10. It has been developed and nurtured by generations of our Youthtown Taupō whānau, who have worked with over 200 kōtiro since 2021.
With an active recreation focus and spotlight on powerful corner-turning conversations, Ngā Puāwai supports kōtiro outside the classroom to help them be the difference inside the classroom.
Ngā Puāwai grows understanding around the roles that hauora – wellbeing, tūhononga - connection and aumangea - resilience play in feeling good, but also being able to figure out and deal with the unknown.
Through our existing mahi within schools and kura in the Taupō and Hawke’s Bay regions, we directly witnessed the ripple effect of the COVID lockdowns on worsening ākonga attendance and truancy rates. Principals and leadership we work with closely at each programme site all had a shared story to tell of what was happening. They let us know who they’d like us to work with and where the focus should be. This has largely been around improving confidence, wellbeing, resilience building and life skills.
With Ngā Puāwai already running successfully pre-2020, we reviewed and evolved its design and sequencing to meet the needs of taiohi now. Our approach gives them the tools to work through the hard stuff with a solid process in place to improve the journey between intermediate and secondary school: a key transition point.
Activities are decided upon by each cohort, supported by Youthtown staff. This planning approach incorporates the voice of the participant from the very start, building trust, a sense of ownership over direction and improved connection to local places, providers and activities that can help support wellbeing and connection. We have worked hard to build great relationships with local activity providers: in Taupō, every Ngā Puāwai participant can choose to undertake the final wero: a bungee jump!
To remove the cost barrier, we have worked from our side to gain local and regional funding to support free delivery in schools, which has in turn encouraged them to try out Ngā Puāwai with their ākonga.
Over the last year the redesign of Ngā Puāwai was finalised by our team and trialled out on delivery. In order to complete this work, we reviewed evaluations, had extended conversations with our existing delivery partners and listened carefully to what programme participants had to say about what they needed. In our first term of delivery we worked to test the new sessions, activities and outcomes focus with two groups in Taupō and fine-tuned as needed prior to a review.
Regarding funding, we have continued to build the profile of Ngā Puāwai with funders who can see the effectiveness and impact of what we’re working on. We are grateful to the Sport New Zealand - Tumanawa Waikato for their kind support in enabling us to get this programme out into schools in our region.
Partially due to our mahi on Ngā Puāwai, our profile has increased in the pastoral spaces at schools – and we now work alongside iwi organisation to provide early morning school transport to tamariki and taiohi in emergency/transitional housing. We get a renewed sense of the deeply important purpose of Ngā Puāwai as we help these taiohi navigate their worlds.
Our talented team have worked hard to deliver the new sessions with energy, passion and care for our participants. The sense of agency around the deciding of activities and sequencing coupled with a warm welcome has allowed us to establish strong connections with each cohort. The programme itself cannot run smoothly or as designed without the input of the kōtiro involved.
We have worked with our Programme Design Support Manager to ensure that our activities and approach match the kind of engagement kōtiro need. To provide another layer of certainty, we are preparing to use our research partnership with the University of Auckland’s Centre for Arts and Social Transformation (CAST) to undertake an external evaluation on Ngā Puāwai. From this, we hope to deliver an academic research piece which explores the impact of our engagement with kōtiro.
Our team in Taupō are an innovative bunch, most recently putting together a promotional video that will be shown in the local cinema complex ahead of screenings. This is another example of the dedication to finding new ways to gain visibility in the community, of which they are considered a well-established part.
The voice of young people is used to dictate lesson plans and activities. The framework adapts to the facilitator's strengths. The programme starts at school in a familiar setting to young people. The first two sessions are whakawhanaungatanga to help build a stronger connection. Youthtown hub spaces are used throughout the program to offer cooking, archery, and other activities. The final actvivty or "wero" is a free bungy jump with AJ Hackett bungy Taupo.
The programme has had considerable growth in participants and interest from local schools. Surveys are taken lesson 1, 4, and 8 and video interviews are collated after the bungy. Feedback has been supportive from schools, parents, and participants.
