An alternative school based on Marist values is giving teenagers a second chance at learning.
The Marist Alternative Education school is based in Wairau, an industrial area on Auckland’s North Shore.
Marist Alternative Education is one of three schools that Orewa College manages.
It draws 13 to 16-year-olds and has eight students on its roll. Mainstream education hasn’t worked for them.
To be eligible to attend an alternative school, pupils must meet one criterion from a range. That includes things like being out of a registered school for two terms or being excluded by local schools.
Long-term truancy or feelings of alienation also count against admission.
Marist Alternative Education draws its curriculum from Te Kura (The Correspondence School). Many staff are also youth workers.
“We get beside them [students] and figure out why they don’t want to learn and address the why,” says principal, Kim Fraser.
She says the Ministry of Education regards Marist Alternative Education as a public school. It pays for 52% of running costs.
Community organisations, donors and grants make up the shortfall.
Principal Fraser says Marist Alternative Education would have suited her when she was of school age.
“It’s really neat seeing these students go on to achieve their potential,” she says.
The pupils do activities such as sport or personal development each afternoon. The principal says kickboxing is a favourite.
Ms Fraser says that kickboxing helps pupils suffering attention deficit disorders. She says they gain greater levels of self-confidence.
The school is affiliated with the Marist Brothers Trust Board. That harks back to St Marcellin Champagnat whose mission was to bring education to the most vulnerable.
While aligned with Champagnat’s mission, Marist Alternative Education school is not a religious one.
Ms Fraser says while Marist values are not taught, their values filter through to the students.
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