Newspaper Article 1977 – Te Aute Board affirms “Take”

Te Aute board affirms‘Take’”

“With the opening of the 1977 school year, Te Aute College became part of the State educational system.

The new board of governors has retained policy laid down in 1974 in “He Take o Te Aute Kareti” (Statement of the case for Te Aute), by “endorsing as the foundation of its “on-going” policy for the future.

The “Take” was given to the late Mr Norman Kirk and other Ministers in 1974.

It was also the spearhead of submissions made by the Te Aute Trust Board to Government representatives in 1974, when the decision was made to rebuild and redevelop Te Aute College as part of the State system.

At the request of the board of governors, the “Take” is reproduced in “full.

Purpose

To send from Te Aute College young men academically qualified, strong in the knowledge and practice of Maoritanga, with an insight into the Christian conception of being an influence for good among their fellows during their lifetime.

To achieve this objective:

* The school must become a community where Marae etiquette and its niceties of behaviour are practised on all occasions.

* It must become a place the boys can regard as home – a village community. A place where Maori behavioural patterns and attitudes are not ridiculed but fostered, thus enhancing the student’s identification with his people.

* It must become a school where the boys strive to reach their highest levels in academic attainment, and where, with the help of dedicated teachers, they are inspired to have confidence that the things they are taught are a basis on which they can pattern their lives.

* It must become a place given to God so that the Christian environment there may have a lifelong influence.

Special place

As a boarding school, Te Aute has advantages enjoyed by few schools to which Maori boys have access.

At Te Aute, the student comes to the ancestral marae where great men of this nation have been trained, and here has a chance to consider what his part in New Zealand society will be.

True leadership in the world is essential and here at Te Aute he will receive training to fit him for such leadership.

The mana of Te Aute allows the student caught in the urban situation to discover his true identity.

Many Maori parents and students do not wish education to be solely in pakeha terms, but to be bi-lingual and bi-cultural. In this area Te Aute can fulfil many of their desires and aspirations.

If the home circumstances are such that the student is unable to reach his optimum development, no matter how good his State secondary school may be, the opportunity given at Te Aute can make that student into a worthy citizen and give him a chance which would not have been his had he stayed at home.

At Te Aute every boy belongs to a community which values the things close to the heart of every Maori.

He is part of this community for 24 hours a day.

He is surrounded by a consistent environment within which he can share every aspect of his life, instead of living in one community and being educated in another.

He learns to know and have confidence in trained and sympathetic staff to whom he can turn if difficulties arise.

Roll

With an annual intake of 60 and the attainment of a higher academic level which will retain boys in the sixth and seventh forms, we aim for a roll of 240.

We are not in favour of a larger roll because only with the numbers stated can we achieve our purpose of the boys feeling at home in village community. Our belief is that as this aim is achieved academic results will improve.

It must be pointed out that until additional accommodation becomes available the roll is limited to 150.

Curriculum

To fulfil our purpose:

Te Aute must be a place where the principles of Christianity are taught.

Te Aute must give every boy the opportunity to become proficient in the Maori and English languages.

Te Aute may not be able to offer the range of options which larger schools do, but will and must have enough options available to enable students to attain academic qualifications.

The future

In the light of an independent building survey carried out by Messrs Davis Phillips and Chaplin in 1974, it has become necessary to revise and alter our plans for development. It is apparent the school must be rebuilt.

This is beyond the means of the Te Aute Trust Board alone, and we would seek Government assistance in providing buildings where the aims we have set out can be realised.

We draw attention to the recommendation, No. 6 in the working party reports of the Educational Development Conference; “That the Government provide greater financial support for appropriate research projects and that an experimental school based on a marae-community concept be established to allow various programmes to be implemented and evaluated.”

Here at Te Aute on land given by the Maori people we have the ideal site where such a concept can be a reality. We are firmly of the opinion that our expressed aims and the recommendations in the working party reports, together form a project within which the Government and the Te Aute Trust Board could with confidence combine.