Principal says social worker needed to help school’s families

By Evan Harding Stuff / Southland Times Jun 29 2024

A south Invercargill principal says his secondary school needs funding for a fulltime social worker to support the families of its students.

Aurora College was able to access social workers 10 hours a week for year 7 and 8 students only.

But principal Craig Taylor said a full-time social worker was needed to get into the homes of its students and offer their whānau support.

Taylor said he had been surprised and shocked at the poverty levels when arriving to start his job at Aurora College nearly two years ago, having previously worked at North Island schools including Matamata College.

“While there are pockets of it in places I have been previously, certainly to be immersed in it is a bit different. To actually see how much they are struggling is quite shocking.

The families of the students did their best, but when they struggled to provide the necessities, their children struggled, he said.

With the cost of living going up it makes it even more difficult for them.”

A full-time social worker would support the whānau of students by giving them access to different medical and other services, while ensuring they were matched up with the right organisations.

“It’s really difficult for them to navigate a system they don’t understand and don’t know, and having someone to walk alongside them is vital. If we can have happy homes, we’ve got happy students.”

Taylor said Aurora College had tried to get funding for a full-time social worker through the education ministry but it was told it was outside its scope.

The school’s counsellors and staff currently tried to bridge the gap in supporting the families, but they were not trained in that area, he said.

In 2020 Dot Loves Data, a Wellington-based data science organisation, found that south Invercargill had some of the most impoverished communities in New Zealand.

Appleby, for example, ranked 1781st out of the 1867 New Zealand communities measured by Dot Loves Data.

Despite the poverty, Taylor said the key message was that Aurora College’s students were “the most resilient, caring students I have ever come across”.

“Sure, they are rough around the edges, but once you get to know them they are incredible students, and for us it’s making sure we can support them and provide them with the pathway they need to be successful when they leave school.”

Taylor said south Invercargill was “galvanised” and multiple people and organisations stepped up to help the college because they saw the need.

Aurora College had an equity index [which has replaced school decile rankings] of 545, which was “incredibly high”.

“The higher it is, the more social challenges our students face.”

The high rating resulted in more ministry funding for the college, but more was always needed, he said.

Many of the students lived in houses that weren’t warm and dry and they had challenges at home, including clothing.

“You see many of our students wearing their Aurora hoodies on the weekend because they have said it’s their warmest piece of clothing.”

Some arrived at school “with a whole heap of trauma and things on their minds”.

“Some of them are just surviving day-to-day, so for them to then sit in a classroom and learn is very challenging for them,” Taylor said.

Janette Malcolm, the driving force behind the Grace St community building project in south Invercargill which would provide residents with opportunities for growth, learning and social connection, said it was incumbent on everyone to help the youngsters of south Invercargill.

Students in its schools had shown that “with a hand up, they can be stars”, Malcolm said.

‘’That’s why the Grace St project was formed, it’s about a hand up, creating a stepping stone into the world beyond, it’s about hope and changing those numbers."

The wider Invercargill community might also consider what role it could play in providing a hand up and opportunities to south Invercargill residents, who made up 34% of the city's population and on average lived in some of the poorest conditions in New Zealand, she said.

"The benefits to the wider community in helping with that change, and enabling people to live to the top of their potential, would be felt across the community and Southland."

Ministry of Education South leader Nancy Bell said Aurora College was one of 19 schools in Otago and Southland that received the counselling in schools resource, with Aurora receiving 10 hours per week, the highest allocated hours in the region.

But she confirmed the ministry did not have funding available for full-time social workers in schools.

Aurora College also received funding so some staff could be trained to support students in areas including grief, loss, change and transition. The training enabled teachers to help build students self-esteem and give them strategies to deal with challenges, while also building their own understanding of the impacts trauma could have on children, Bell said.

“We appreciate the work that Aurora College does with some of the most vulnerable students in Invercargill.

“We will continue to work with Craig and Aurora College so that they are able to access the support that is available for students.”

Janette Malcolm, the driving force behind the Grace St community building project in south Invercargill which would provide residents with opportunities for growth, learning and social connection, said it was incumbent on everyone to help the youngsters of south Invercargill.

Students in its schools had shown that “with a hand up, they can be stars”, Malcolm said.

‘’That’s why the Grace St project was formed, it’s about a hand up, creating a stepping stone into the world beyond, it’s about hope and changing those numbers."