HAEATA COMMUNITY CAMPUS - CAYAD OTAUTAHI

’The whole process had helped build trust with whānau’

Haeata - meaning dawn or beam of light in Te Reo - is a new area school born from the closure of Aranui High, Aranui Primary, Avondale Primary and Wainoni School. Nearby NGO, Waipuna, houses the CAYAD service.

When Haeata opened, then-CAYAD kaimahi Phil Siataga initiated the relationship with school staff and in 2018, new kaimahi Paul McMahon and Jakin Alaifea began discussing the value of effective school AOD policies with Haeata’s manager of Hauora (pastoral care), Rebecca Wilson. Rebecca was impressed by the team’s experience in co-creating AOD policies with ākonga (students) in other schools, and invited CAYAD to work with the ākonga, staff and teachers on a new process for Haeata.

Paul and Jakin assisted with eight follow-up sessions with students and staff, which established a shared understanding of AOD in a school context and produced the guiding principles for the AOD procedure. The ākonga were very influential; introducing the important innovation of a kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) meeting: an ākonga arriving at school intoxicated (unless unsafe) would be sat down and “given a feed,” something warm/cool to drink, and asked about what was going on for them.

This process was described by Rebecca as “mana enhancing… non-shaming… relationship focused.”

A date was set for a presentation to the Board of Trustees (BOT) by Paul, Jakin, and two particularly strong ākonga Māori leaders who had emerged during the sessions, Steph and Cypress. They spoke about why they supported the draft AOD process. This was the first time since the foundation of the school that ākonga had presented at a Haeata BOT meeting. While they spoke a tear of pride rolled down Rebecca’s cheek. The BOT adopted the process/policy without reservation.

For Haeata, the quality of the policy development process greatly enhanced relationships between the school, its students and families. Rebecca reports that, in 2020, the Hauora team followed the new process and it became “one of the strongest processes we have.”

She said there had been fewer stand-downs and very few repeat offenders. There had also been a good uptake of the Tautoko meetings by whānau and ākonga and the whole process had helped build trust with whānau.

BOT Chair Dr Cheryl Doig thanked Paul and Jakin for CAYAD’s contribution to ensuring the needs of ākonga and whānau were met, saying -

“It’s not every school that enables ākonga to be so woven into the process and we really believe this is a great model for Haeata. The young people were amazing ambassadors and I will let them know that.”

She said CAYAD’s continued support of Haeata and their mahi was deeply appreciated. Rebecca also emailed to thank Paul and Jakin, saying they had gone ‘above and beyond’ by attending the BOT meeting -

“Last night I felt so proud of where things were at and seeing the process up on the screen. I also felt incredibly proud of Steph and Cypress! I have shared with their kaiako just how amazing they were last night. They shared with me in the car how much they have enjoyed working with you both and how proud they are to be part of co-creating the AOD process.”

Haeata and CAYAD Otautahi continue to collaborate towards a ‘Whole of School Approach’ to preventing and reducing AOD harm. This is a key role of the CAYAD programme, and can run from developing education and early intervention plans through to connecting social and clinical services, so that all young people have the best chance of reaching their potential.

Paul McMahon, St John of God Waipuna, Ōtautahi