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The Children’s Champion Behind every good primary school is a community that mucks in and helps the teaching staff do more than they otherwise could for the kids.
Onepoto Primary has its fair share of champions – people who take their turn going the extra mile for the kids. Take Sala Alona who served on the school board for several years before handing that job over to her sister, Joy Alona (also known as Emma), and taking up the challenge of being a teacher’s aide. School caretaker, David Peihopa says, “Sala is more than a teacher aide, she is like an aunty and head fundraiser.”
“It’s hard work. You teach the kids and do the costumes yourself. But it’s all worth it in the end. You see the kids performing on the stage and you think, yay!” Sala is also head of ‘Friends of the School’, a committee that fundraises for Onepoto. Sala says that fundraising has a dual purpose. It’s not just about getting money in, it also brings parents into the school to interact with the teachers. “We want them to come in.”
STEPPING UP TO LEAD THROUGH A TIME OF CHANGE The new Chairperson of the Onepoto School Board of Trustees says she sees an opportunity for the school community to build a stronger sense of identity.
“One of the things I tell the parents is if you have questions, talk to the principal, talk to the teacher. If you don’t feel comfortable, talk to me,” says Sala. “The teachers want to talk to us too.”
“One of the things I tell the parents is that we want to know the good things and the bad things as well, otherwise how can we improve?”
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Sala (centre) with Mele (left) and Piisi (right) who volunteered at the Onepoto Cultural Festival.
Sala runs the breakfast program, making sure the kids are fed so that they can start the day ready to learn. She coordinates with Fonterra and KidsCan, who provide milk, Weetbix and fruit salad. She makes sure there’s a roster of volunteers to serve the food each morning and comes in to school herself if someone is sick and can’t make it. On Wednesdays Sala takes the Pasifika programme, teaching the kids traditional song and dance from across the Islands. “It’s good to cover all the cultures at school.” She says she’s always looking for volunteers to help. “It’s lucky I know heaps of people and I go and ask around. At the moment I’m working with a Tongan lady. I teach the kids the Niuean ones. And sometimes we do the Cook Island dance as well.”
of our school. Plus it’s only over the fence.” Her advice to other parents who are looking at schools in the area is to consider the benefit of being able to walk. “See it as fitness. Plus you spend quality time with your kids when you walk.” “Onepoto is a good school,” says Joy. “It’s about us as a community. We’re working together with the teachers to find lots of ways our school can succeed. Slowly but surely.”
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Joy sent her daughter to Northcote Primary but now has her son at Onepoto. Asked why the change of school, she says “I get that sense of family. I like that we’re working together to make something better out
Cate works as an Anglican Minister as well as various community support roles. Photography by David St George.
Cate Thorn, the new Chairperson of the Onepoto School Board of Trustees, got to know the school when she helped the then-principal Marc Dombroski set up ‘Our Place’, a meeting place for parents on the school grounds. Our Place, in a refurbished prefab classroom, was created to encourage parents to come into the school more often, get familiar with the teachers and become comfortable participating in the school community. While setting up Our Place, Cate was impressed by the staff ’s commitment to the kids and joined the Board. Once Northcote’s status as a Special Housing Area was confirmed Cate stepped up to the Chairperson’s role. “I realised there was work to do to help people through the transition. Like any community that’s been established for a long time, there’s resistance to change.” She says she feels for the local people, including her fellow board members who are parents at the school and Housing New
Zealand tenants. “They’re putting 110% into the school without any certainty yet about where they will be living until they have progressed further in the rehousing process with Housing New Zealand.” “One of my aims is to help the community actively engage with the changes instead of being silent. People love the area and are proud of it. That just needs activating, then they will get involved and encourage others as well”, she says. Onepoto School faces some real challenges, but Cate is a ‘glass half full’ person. She also sees the flip side of those challenges. “Onepoto is unique on the North Shore in that it’s an intensive pocket of Maori and Tongan kids at one school. This brings with it the opportunity to build a strong sense of identity which supports the kids’ learning.” She’d like to create a “mini-campus” which incorporates Onepoto with a new preschool on site and neighbouring Northcote
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Intermediate. She believes offering continuity of education in one place will help foster student pride and increase confidence. So, what is Onepoto’s greatest strength, in her view? “The teachers work really hard and innovatively to find ways to help these kids. It’s very real here. It’s the struggles that make the school stronger. In the middle of the struggles the teachers never stop trying. I’m blown away by their commitment.” After 20 years of commitment to the school Marc Dombroski has chosen to step aside to enable a new leader to guide the school through this time of change. While a new Principal is being sought, Colin Dale has stepped in as Relieving Principal. “I am enjoying the opportunity to further the flourishing of the children in this diverse community” says Colin.