At Tāmaki College, school kaimahi and leadership understand that hybrid learning can only function at its best if ākonga and their whānau are confident using online systems and can connect to the school from home. As a Manaiakalani school – in fact, the first ever Manaiakalani school – Tāmaki College has a 1:1 device policy and supports access from home by subsidising  devices as well as providing free internet for the neighbourhood around the school and arranging access for out-of-zone ākonga via Fusion, a managed services company. In addition, the school provides a free device repair service with loan devices given out to fill the gaps when equipment is broken. 

But Tāmaki college doesn’t stop there. To start with, each class has a Google site designed for whānau to access alongside ākonga see what’s going on in their rangatahi (young person)’s classes and what’s coming up. These sites have a uniform layout so that once you know your way around the biology site, for example, you will be able to find your way around the music site just as easily. To enable this without creating extra stress for kaiako, Tāmaki College sets aside a day at the start of each school year purely for kaiako to create these sites from provided templates. 

Of course, a website for whānau is only helpful if the community is connected to the school and digitally literate. This is where Tāmaki College’s community programmes really shine. The Talanoa Ako programme runs every Monday and is a time for Pasifika parents to come into the school, connect with each other and with kaiako, learn about what is going on at school and become empowered to support their children’s learning. Each week has a focus topic, such as career and vocational pathways or literacy and numeracy, but Talanoa Ako is also a venue for parents to ask questions and share knowledge. On a specifically digital theme, Cafe Connect runs on Tuesday and is a student-hosted drop in session for whānau. Ākonga are empowered to teach adults about email, Google apps, device security, and more - the adults come with questions and the ākonga collaborate to answer them. The community is invited to see ākonga present learning projects at the school’s Tu’u Malohi Showcase, and this year younger siblings were invited to try coding, 3-D printers and more at Tech Taster Extravaganza holiday programmes. The holiday programme advertisement on Facebook declares, “we encourage your parents to join in on the action as it is never too late to learn something new and explore how fun and easy tech is.”

Of all Tāmaki College’s community initiatives, the one with the furthest reach and the most powerful potential is Project RISE. Named for the school’s values (Respect, Innovation, Success, Excellence) the project is a community development programme, based on the idea that ākonga success is based on the success of their whānau and the wider community. The school began by reaching out to community members for input on what was needed for Tāmaki to thrive. They then created the Tāmaki Connect Charitable Trust, and have been working since 2020 with community partners to co-design and begin to implement services that will uplift local families and therefore uplift Tāmaki College ākonga. The scale of Project RISE is large and a wide variety of services are being developed, including literacy for young people and senior citizens, integrated health services based at the school, community education, a family entertainment centre to generate social and economic opportunities, and and “earn while you learn” programme to support youth with employment opportunities while supporting local businesses.

Tāmaki College understands that quality education is only possible when ākonga wellbeing is supported, and that ākonga wellbeing is best supported by whānau and community wellbeing. By creating strong partnerships with the local community, Tāmaki College has earned the trust of whānau and is working with them to achieve a high level of ākonga success. Their successful graduate profile is all the more powerful considering that the majority of ākonga are Māori and Pasifika. The positive community impact that Tāmaki College has is powerful for all of its ākonga, but for whānau have had negative experiences with education in previous generations, it is transformative.