Tamatea High School Principal, Robin Fabish, with School Leavers John Ioane, Ngarangi Lawrence and Henry Apai Ah Kuoi who are studying pre-employment Carpentry at EIT this year.
The principal of Tamatea High school, Robin Fabish is celebrating the schools latest school leaver statistics.
He said “Last year, we set a goal to ensure that all students had meaningful pathways to pursue when they left school. Previous to that we had focused on NCEA results and worked to improve them, but we realised that while qualifications are important, they’re not how we should be measuring success – we should be ensuring that qualifications actually lead somewhere and give students meaningful options when they leave school.
Around the country it’s common practice for secondary schools to publish their NCEA pass rates as evidence of their success as a school, but Mr Fabish believes that what is really important is what students do when they leave. Have they got pathways, are they work ready, can they earn money and start contributing to society?
Matua Robin added “This year we have tracked where our 2019 leavers have gone to and we’re very pleased that nearly 40% of our students are working. More than a quarter have gone to EIT to do diploma and certificate courses. Ten percent of our students are starting degrees. And there are a handful of students who haven’t returned and aren’t working and a couple who we’re not sure about – we’ll work hard to make sure this doesn’t happen in 2020. We want all our graduates to be doing well.
A few of the Tamatea High students have started apprenticeships or cadetships which the school is really pleased about, they are particularly happy about the large numbers going to EIT to start pre-employment trades courses. A number of Tamatea’s leavers are pursuing careers in Nursing, Computing, Music, Building, Farming, Painting, Panelbeating and Childcare. In addition Deputy Head Girl from last year is studying Health Science at Otago with a view to becoming a Medical Doctor.
Many employers express concerns about young people struggling with a good work ethic, turning up on time, staying off their cellphones and displaying a good attitude to feedback. Tamatea High has a strong focus on values in their curriculum which assist with this problem and they are developing a ‘Work Ready’ passport.
The results from 2019 have set a benchmark for Tamatea High and as a whole school they will continue striving to ensure that 2020 school leavers have meaningful pathways.
