After meeting more than 40 members of the school community Hipkins told media he wanted to hear from the community and former students before he made his decision.

"It won't be a matter of months. I do want to get something sooner than that to give certainty to the school community.

But I also do want to stay true to my word and consider the feedback I was given today and the feedback they've been giving me through other means."

This also meant reviewing the advice he had received from the Ministry of Education and the Catholic Diocese of Auckland, he said.

Despite being pressed on the future of Hato Petera College beyond the integration agreement, Hipkins said it was ultimately over to the diocese what happened to the school, including returning the land to iwi.

"That's obviously a matter for the Treaty settlement process. That will fall outside my ministerial portfolio."

The Church has not yet heard from Hipkins but the diocese's vicar of education, Linda McQuade gave the minister her card as he left.

Catholic Bishop of Auckland Pat Dunn said the land was given to the Church by Governor George Grey for the education of children of "both races" Maori and Pakeha, and the Church would honour that.

"Our problem over the years has been that Maori parents have chosen not to send their children here," he said.

"I don't know how to turn that around. Restarting a school from scratch would be a huge challenge."

Earlier this week two families whose ancestors lived around the site of Northcote's Hato Petera College 170 years ago have "repossessed" the land.

Kaitaia-based Kotahitanga Aotearoa Movement leader Reti Hohaia Netana Boynton said the group, representing the Peters and Turoa families from the Ngati Paoa iwi.

They said they planned to reopen a school for Maori on the site in line with an original land grant by Governor George Grey to the Catholic Church in 1850.

Boynton was allowed into the meeting and urged Hipkins to keep the college open.

Ngati Paoa Iwi chairman Gary Thompson said Boynton's group did not represent the whole iwi.

Thompson, a former Hato Petera house parent, said he has told the Hipkins and the Catholic Church that the iwi wants to be involved in any decision about the school, but said he had not heard from Hipkins.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
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• Only $1,600 of its $200,000 operations grant was being spent on delivering the curriculum.
• 81 percent of the operations grant is spent on non-teaching personnel.
• The three office personnel consume 53 percent of the operations grant.
• Last year the school had an $80,000 budget deficit, but with its falling roll numbers reducing state funding that had ballooned to $190,000.
• The school was facing a legal bill of $116,000, further details of which were redacted.

A separate briefing from the ministry noted that, in the past 20 years, there had been significant shifts and gains made in the schooling system that performs for and with Maori.

"There are now 278 schools and Kura that deliver in Maori medium, ranging from students being taught in Maori language to full immersion. This has had an impact on Maori boarding school rolls."

Dr Mere Skerrett of Victoria University's school of education said there was a range of reasons why the boarding schools had declined.

• Many rural Maori were choosing not to send their children away to boarding schools
• The church, which has played a significant role in many of the schools, had seen its influence weaken
• From about the 1950s, the schools had also changed their curriculum towards "manual trades for men and women as housewives" and they had been slow to adapt.

"A failure to catch up with the rest of society has probably contributed to their demise," Skerrett said.

However, 11 former students, parents and a kaumatua of the school say they are determined to keep the doors of Hato Petera open.

They have formed the Tauira Tawhito Steering Komiti and have held two hui this month to strategise increasing the college's roll.

"We're very clear about the direction we need to move forward," Phyllis Pomare, the mother of last remaining student Stephanie Pomare, said.

That direction involved reinstating the school's boarding facilities and moving away from allowing only baptised Catholics to attend the school.

Pomare, along with fellow committee member and spokesperson Ratahi Tomuri, said both changes had harmed the enrolment process.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins says consultation is now underway about the possible cancellation of the integration agreement of the college. The consultation process will run until 14 May.

Following the consultation process, the Ministry of Education will provide a summary of the feedback and a decision will be made about the cancellation of the school's integration agreement.

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That is about half the number of students on its roll compared to last year.

Rudy Taylor, the chairman of the Hato Petera Whanau Trust, said, while that number is low, he thinks it can be built up.

The Ministry of Education's head of sector enablement and support, Katrina Casey, said last year the Catholic Diocese of Auckland told Hato Petera College the hostel facilities would be closed.

Without these facilities, the college now has to operate as a day school.

Earlier Hato Petera Principal John Matthews said "we had potentially 89 students [but] because of no accommodation and the latest barrier being no funding we've got 25 confirmed students returning and another dozen or so yet to confirm."

Casey said the Ministry of Education understands the board is working with families to arrange private accommodation for those who need it

Operational funding is based on a school's roll and the school type so there is limited funding available for the college, Casey said.

As a result, the college is facing operational challenges and the Ministry of Education is working to "determine the level of additional assistance it now needs to manage and respond to its challenges"

Taylor said, if the school, Ministry of Education and Catholic Diocese don't work together, there is a possibility the school could shut all together.

"There a risk in everything that something could happen. We can only do what's good for the people."

A spokesperson for the Catholic Church said the students' safety and care is priority and as well as being financially viable a boarding facility would "need to be properly administered and run by competent supervisors to provide a caring and truly Catholic environment".

Source

• stuff.co.nz
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In signing the Trust Deed Te Whanau o Hato Petera Trust accepted total responsibility for the land, buildings and operations of the Trust and a 20 year lease of the land comprising the boarding facilities was agreed upon.

This week the diocese has announced that boarding facilities for students at Hato Petera College will not be available in 2016.

They say the decision was not taken lightly, and was made in the best interest of the students.

The diocese says the current operating model for the hostel no longer adequately meets the needs of students.

The school will continue to operate for day students.

In a press release the diocese provided some historical and background information that they hope may assist to place their decision into context.

The diocese says that as a consequence of a continual breach of the Trust Deed over the 20 year term of the lease, they did not renew the lease agreement in 2014 for a further 20 year period.

Instead a 5 year rolling lease arrangement was offered.

Initially this offer was not accepted.

The lease agreement was only formalized when Dr Lance O'Sullivan took over as co-chair of the Trust.

If this had not occurred, the Ministry of Education hostel license would have been terminated.

The decision to close the hostel facilities in 2016 has been made for the following reasons:

• Only very minor maintenance has occurred on the buildings over the past 20 years and consequently some of the buildings are no longer suitable to accommodate students and significant work and investment is required to bring the facilities up to a standard that the students deserve.
• The Trust has serious financial issues and these will only become worse because of the financial costs associated with the facilities. The hostel has only been able to operate for Year 11, 12 and 13 students in Term 4, 2015, because of financial assistance from the Catholic Diocese of Auckland.
• The original concept of the hostel being run as noho whanau units, where a Catholic Maori couple provided a supportive family environment and truly provided care, advice and guidance for their students, gave real strength to boarding. The organisation of the hostel has changed dramatically over the last few years and the hostel now operates very differently. The concept of a family who pray and who eat together has been lost.

Over the last few months the Diocese has appreciated the open and honest communication that has occurred with the Trust Board.

They say real efforts have been made to truly honour the agreement of the Trust Deed and to cater effectively for the needs of the students in the boarding facilities and to address outstanding and essential maintenance on the buildings.

"Regrettably this outstanding contribution by the Trust Board has come too late."

In looking to the future the Diocese is in the process of setting up a review team who will be charged with the task of undertaking a review of Catholic Maori education for secondary aged students within the Auckland Diocese.

At 1 July 2015 there were 1,216 Maori students attending the 16 Catholic Secondary schools within the Diocese of whom 84 were at Hato Petera College.

It will only be once the recommendations from the review panel are received and considered that the Diocese will be able to make any statements about Catholic Maori secondary education in the Auckland Diocese and what further options may be available for ongoing sustainable boarding facilities.

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Curtis, an old boy and former principal of Hato Petera College, is a member of its current review team.

He said the families deserved to be consulted and included in a decision which affected them so greatly.

Sir Toby said consultation between the parents, the school and the church was vital so all could be at ease with the outcomes.

Parents have expressed surprise and frustration at the way the Bishop of Auckland, the church and board had arrived at the decision.

Sir Toby said many feared the end of not just the hostel but school too.

The meeting with Bishop Patrick Dunn and the parents' group led by Sir Toby is hoped to take place in the next day or two.

Last week Hato Petera closed its boarding hostels.

Seventy-five percent of all students at Hato Petera live at the school and they come from as far away as Rotorua and Kaitaia.

Claire Morgan's daughter is in her second year at Hato Petera.

She said closing the hostel was a threat to her daughter's future.

"It potentially threatens the ability of my daughter to attend the college.

"My options are either to bring her back here to Kaikohe, which I don't want to do, or find alternative accommodation or another boarding school," Ms Morgan said.

She said the closure has come at the worst possible time because it was exam time and students were on "an emotional rollercoaster".

Ms Morgan also said the school couldn't function without students, "and if you take away the boarding, you're effectively trying to shut the school down."

Another parent, who didn't want to be named, said her daughter had a scholarship that paid her accommodation if she attended a Maori boarding school, and the closure had harmed her daughter's learning.

Rudy Taylor, who was appointed to the Hato Petera Trust Board this year has resigned from the board.

He says he has no confidence in it.

"So yes I have resigned through frustration and not working together. Communications is the hardest thing I've found out with these Trustees, so I'm not happy with them."

Taylor says he hasn't seen the real budgets and has concerns. "Until they really get out there and tell the truth about what's happening, then it's up to the whanau to see how the school will operate in the best interests for all of the whanau."

"Some of the whanau have been ringing the principal tumuaki and say what do we do? So he said, you need to go away and get the answers from the Bishop" says Taylor.

The next AGM for the Trust will take place on November 22.

Source

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• maoritelevision.com
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Dr O'Sullivan attributes a real turnaround in his life when he was accepted as a student at Hato Petera (St Peter's) College.

Expelled from two schools before thriving at Hato Petera, he went on to be Head Boy, sports champion and College Dux.

The support and encouragement he received at Hato Petera shaped his philosophy towards his patients.

However, Dr O'Sullivan also pays great tribute to his mother who raised her large family without the help of a man in the house.

She worked tirelessly to give her children the best possible start in life under often difficult circumstances. She still helps out with his work and his family, he said.

"Rob people of their self-belief and you deny them a bright future. I believed I couldn't be anything other than the naughty boy teachers perceived me to be. So I'll never turn a kid away and say he's a lost cause or a patient when people say he's just trouble," said Dr O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan is married to Tracey and they have seven children.

He is honoured for his leadership, vision and advocacy in healthcare. His low-cost health clinic Te Kohanga Whakaora ("The Nest of Wellness") has made basic healthcare more accessible for people in the far north.

Source

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• catholicnetwork.org.nz
• Catholic Diocese of Auckland
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Sir Peter Blake Trust chief executive Shelley Campbell praises O'Sullivan's dedication to eradicating child poverty.

"He is a tireless advocate for insulating houses and healthy lifestyle programmes, in addition to training New Zealand medical students across the country in responsive primary and community healthcare," Ms Campbell said.

O'Sullivan has worked to help communities in Northland, mainly in Kaitaia where he and his wife Tracey have set up a low-cost clinic, Te Kohanga Whakaora.

He said he believes in quality healthcare for all.

"It's come from my upbringing and my solo mum and seeing what she had to go through. We don't come from a lot of wealth. My mum, who is a Pakeha, was a cleaner and my dad worked in the freezing works.

"I'm a young Maori dad now and I have a skill - as a doctor - that is very much needed in this community. I'm really honoured to be here doing what I do."

The 41-year-old grew up in Auckland. He decided to move his family north with the hope of helping Maori. He opened his own practice in November last year, after leaving Te Hauora o Te Hiku o Te Ika over disputes about managing patients who cannot pay.

As well as setting up his medical practice O'Sullivan has been instrumental in establishing several programmes aimed at to improving child health. The Manawa Ora Korokoro Ora (Moko) programme, based at Kaitaia Primary School, aims to give medical care to up to 2000 children at 14 primary and intermediate schools.

The Kainga Ora - focuses on fixing cold, run-down homes to make sure all children in the community grow up in a warm and healthy environment.

The golden boy of Maori health, who counts Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia among his allies, hasn't always had it this good.

He was raised by a solo mum as a part-Maori boy in the mostly Pakeha Auckland suburb of Howick.

"It wasn't a place that was fully supportive of trying to find out who you are as a young Maori man," he says.

The young Lance developed a reputation as a trouble-maker and, after being expelled from two schools, his mum packed him off to a boarding college for Maori boys, Hato Petera on Auckland's North Shore.

It was a turning point for the 15-year-old and his first real exposure to the Maori world.

"As a part-Maori child at school the perception was that you were going to be trouble. After three years at Hato Petera I went from being the kid who got expelled from two schools to being dux, head boy and sports champion."

O'Sullivan put the change down to an environment that encouraged and recognised his skills. The experience had a profound effect on his beliefs as a doctor.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• NZDoctor.co.nz
• The Northern Advocate
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