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[Music]

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the Education Review office talked about

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a help calm at felt here now that was a

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really interesting adjective to use

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because I wouldn't afford it was can

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it's but it is peaceful but calm really

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did my heart good because I thought yes

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this is an environment where there were

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fights galore on the field it was pretty

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scary if you like and needed someone to

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care for the place that needed someone

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to want to be here so now the

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environment is peaceful that's also very

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dynamic incredibly busy based on a lot

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of positive things to bring good people

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through or passionate about kids who

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know what at work in this space I'm

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proud of the people that we've managed

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to attract to our school to help

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contribute to that well kids my sake and

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the school is just having has been

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utterly passionate about this community

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and these people and being able to give

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them an educational journey that is

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going to set them on a really fantastic

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pathway for the rest of their lives if

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the value of a try was never changed to

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five points what the same team have won

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the game the teachers are driven to help

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the kids in more averse situation

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whether they're low achievers high

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achievers they cater for everybody

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I like how our school celebrates each

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new ones quarter

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these kids they just have that energy

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that that that curiosity that that's

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spark in them that you just don't find

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anywhere else

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I chose fear the reaction cards as this

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hidden a whole bunch of our kids have

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this amazing capability to be young

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leaders we do have a whole bunch of

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systems to recognize potential to

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develop their potential we're the

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generation the future generation of the

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leaders I wish we had a school like this

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when I was this age I'm like new kids

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are so lucky we have evenings throughout

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the year where parents come in and

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that's our target to say look this is

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what we're doing this is something you

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could try at home with your child we're

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empowering them and they love that my

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palm I'm proud I'm proud to be Who I am

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in it we've seen engagement increase

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we've seen an attendance increase we've

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seen community coming to school they

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want to be here they want to sort of be

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part of their kids learning journey I

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actually think that our children are

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very very fortunate to be in this school

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the kids in our community they deserve

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to have the best leaders the best

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teachers the best support staff and

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that's our ongoing challenge to make

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sure we always try and get the best

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people to help them play deserve it

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they've made me become a proud person on

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all of my coaches and I'm just happy

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that I can take something with me and

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keep it inside of me and spread it

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around all of our community

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not even our community the world

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you

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Parents and the community, even up the coast,

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are seeing that Boys' High is offering something

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that no other school and Tairāwhiti is offering.

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And that’s why we are getting an abundance of boys

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coming through because they want to pick up

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this taonga, this treasure that we have.

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(Teacher chanting in Māori)

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We were able to take a programme and develop

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it here for our young men, Tu Tane.

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Who are you and who are you going to be in the future?

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Who do you want to be?

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What type of footprint are you going to leave behind?

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I never thought about myself in that kind of way before,

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I‘ve never really thought about who I am

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and where I was from. But I think Tu Tane

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just makes you think about yourself a lot more.

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We wanted to get away from the stereotypical ritual

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of what it was to be a good man, following these

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different rites of passage.

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If you fulfill your true potential not only will you help

01:00

out in your own whānau, you may even contribute to

01:02

New Zealand as a whole, or to the world.

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By the end of the year by the time we finish the camp

01:07

which is the final milestone for the year

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the guys are pretty close as a group.

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There's a real sense of recognising other people's

01:14

struggles and also recognising how you can help that

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and how you can be the best man you can be.

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Hui e, taiki e.

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It comes back to our school motto

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'Courage Knows No Defeat'.

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If you haven’t got the courage to step forward

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and take up a challenge

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then you’ll never know what you can achieve.

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If we look up here we’ll see the Whakairo

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that matua Derek Ladelli established years ago for

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our school. Those are the waka that came and inhabited

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this area here in the Tairāwhiti.

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We like to have a football in one arm

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and a girl in the other arm and that’s what young

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15 year olds are like the world over.

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But Whakairo brings something different out in us.

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Our aim was always to emulate

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these awesome carvings

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so that people can see the legacy as being continued.

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It’s a passion to grab a whao and a kuru,

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a mallet and a chisel, and to create

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and it's something that comes from your forefathers

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right down the lines since they came from Hawaiki.

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It just strengthens that union of tupuna

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and to have it come down through Sean

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it's really touching as a parent

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to see the work that your children

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can create being in this Whakairo environment.

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We knew the parents and the family

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would be blown away

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and they loved it

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to the point where some people

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have been bought to tears

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looking at their sons work.

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What we’ve also been able to do

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is take the body of knowledge

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of Whakairo and to take those skills

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and encompass them in many of the units

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involved in some of the other curriculum areas.

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Last year our Māori boys out performed

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our non Māori boys at level 2.

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Well I’ll be interested in buying this one

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at the end of the year

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because we are always buying one for the school

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but it’s got to mean something

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and in terms of what you just said,

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"a young man being looked after by the guardians'',

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is pretty important I reckon.

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The success has bred success.

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Achievement has bred achievement.

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The credibility of the Whakairo course at our school,

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by our staff, by our community

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has fulfilled everything that we set out to do.

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Our year twelves and our year thirteens

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are fantastic young men.

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They have a real relationship with our younger year nine

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and year tens

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and I’ve got absolutely no doubt that is the foundation

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of what they learnt in Tu Tane.

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In terms of behavioural problems,

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the results are absolutely remarkable, and

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year tens are often the ones who got suspended a lot.

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We’ve had no suspensions this year.

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They were making better judgements

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about whether or not to do that really stupid thing.

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ERO looked into that

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and we became one of their good practice schools

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for reduction in stand-down and suspension,

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based around Tu Tane programme and Whakairo.

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Our very first class graduated last year.

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Those boys are in university and we see them around

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town it’s easy to have a chat and you know to catch up.

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The community and the school community

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are saying "Wow look at these young guys

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and look at what they're capable of doing".

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(Haka)

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I suppose it began in October of 2012.

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Natalia and her mum came for a look

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round the centre to enroll and we were

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aware that Natalia was profoundly deaf.

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So that sort of began our interest

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in deaf culture.

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Natalia sort of went from the nursery,

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where the teachers were signing a lot,

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and then moved into the preschool where

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they probably hadn't learnt as much.

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But then they just came on board with the

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whole thing and I just noticed the change

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in her behaviour and her actually

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wanting to be here, once they started

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really coming on board and learning heaps.

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That made a huge difference to her,

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you know, that she's being recognised

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in that way.

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We wanted to be able to communicate

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with Natalia, her brother Jayden

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and her father, who are all deaf, and we

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wanted to be able to commuicate

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with them in the way that they

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communicate together at home with sign.

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We started with DVDs and posters and

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different resources that we gained from Liz

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and from Van Asch Deaf School.

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We started teaching the other teachers,

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started teaching the children

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and we were just absolutely astounded at

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how quickly the children were soaking it up

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and how eager they were to learn more.

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Now Josh, what can you sign?

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A monkey.

01:20

Good monkey! A monkey.

01:22

Sign language is so powerful

01:24

especially when you're getting, you know,

01:25

the littlies starting from one.

01:27

They're able to communicate what they

01:29

want and what they need.

01:30

They don't have those frustrations and so

01:32

for all the kids here they're able to have

01:34

that, you know, that priviledge really

01:37

of being able to communicate

01:38

in two languages.

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We are getting a bit of

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knowledge from Natalia.

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It's important, it's a learning tool

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and it's also fun you know, we make it fun

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instead of just something that's a must.

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But we just turn it into a positive.

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It's been amazing.

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All the kids have embraced it.

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Other parents are enjoying the fact that

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the whole centre is learning sign language.

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It means that our kids are a part of

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the centre and it's not just something that

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they're doing specially for them,

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it's something for everyone that

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everyone's benefiting from and that's

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the cool thing because as a parent

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you don't want to be like 'oh we're, you

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know, burdening this extra load on you'.

02:22

It's like it's enjoyable.

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Everyone's loving it. Yeah.

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One day he sat at the table playing

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preschools and he was moving his hands

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about and I'm like what are you doing?

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and he says 'Mum don't you know?

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It's sign language.'

02:37

And he was teaching me sign language!

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And I was like well I definitely have to go

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to school and learn that one so yeah,

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he was doing really well and he

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does it at home.

02:44

He doesn't judge, he just takes his time

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and he understands that there's a problem

02:48

with people's ears and he, yeah, he looks

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for a different way of talking to them.

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We have decided now

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where we're going to.

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I think it's really important to continue

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setting goals so that this continues

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as an every day part of our centre life.

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I don't think you need to have

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a deaf student at your centre to be able to

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learn sign language and see it's

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benefits for all children.