Easy motorway access boosts burglary rate – business chief

From page 1 nini South and Mt Wellington were the three suburbs topping the city-wide list.

Takapuna Beach Business Association chief executive Terence Harpur said Takapuna was the first centre north of the harbour bridge with easy motorway access.

“This does tend to mean we have statistically more incidents, however we are significantly lower than other large centres around Auckland,” he said.

“We would of course love more police on the ground, more resources given to police and be at the bottom of that statistic list.

“Our CCTV network, community police team, private security companies and business initiatives do make a difference in keeping crime low and helping to solve crime that does happen,” Harpur said. Takapuna was still a very safe place to visit, live and do business.

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board deputy chair and former North Shore police commander and Mayor George Wood said it would be difficult to get police to change their deployments on the basis of burglaries. Police talked about domestic violence being a big factor for them in considering staff placement.

Wood believed burglaries had increased locally with homeless people being housed in motels. He said more police were needed. Countries such as Australia and Ireland had a much higher ratio of police officers.

“I would like to see a higher police presence on our streets but we have been turned down so often,” he said.

Wood noted the Takapuna area had a population near double other areas cited.

Bodyline by Guy Body

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‘Need for change’ inspires school’s new approach

Sunnynook Primary School has launched a new initiative that it hopes will help better engage its 60 Māori students.

The āwhina concept introduced to the school this year takes a holistic te ao Māori approach to teaching that aims to raise awareness of opportunities and possibilities among students and their whānau.

Roseanna Baker (Ngāti Whātua), who was previously a full-time classroom teacher at the school, is the kaiako in charge of the āwhina programme.

In her new role Baker will visit classrooms across the school two days a week to assist Māori students with class activities and take them aside for separate workshops.

“Āwhina means to help, support and nurture, and that’s what it’s about, getting the students to be confident in themselves and who they are and letting them know they’re supported,” Baker said.

The workshops and activities she runs cover curriculum learning such as maths, science and writing as well as play-based and strength-based learning and whānau activities.

Baker said the new te ao Māori approach fostered traditional understandings of relationships and connections that help empower and uplift Māori students.

The idea for a new approach to the schools teaching methods was discussed by its board of trustees last year after it analysed achievement data and decided things needed to change. The school surveyed its student body to find all the Māori students who wanted to be a part of the programme.

The initiative is being funded by the board from money it has fundraised, not from the school’s operational budget.

The school will use observational data, feedback from students and parents and attendance data to analyse the effectiveness of the programme.

Deputy principal Rebeccah Bassett-Smith said if the initiative proved successful, the school would like to find a way to continue and expand it.