GUIDANCE AND WELL-BEING
At Mahurangi College we pride ourselves on the pastoral care of our students. We value not only their educational development but also their physical, mental, emotional and social well-being. Our aim is to create a supportive and nurturing learning environment for every student. We aim to ensure that every student enjoys being part of our school, feels safe, takes advantage of the many opportunities open to them and has the capability to be positive, resilient and respectful young adults.
Being a teenager in this fast-paced world comes with challenges that require our students to have the tools to know how to be resilient, positive, brave and mindful. We have several strong educational programmes in place to support this need.
WHANAU
PEER SUPPORT AND PEER MEDIATION
PROGRAMMES
ANTI BULLYING
HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS
YEAR 12 PROGRAMME
WHĀNAU
Our whānau and house systems help reinforce a supportive environment. New students are placed into a house and a whānau where they remain while at Mahu. Divided into six houses, each house - Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red and Yellow - contains ten vertical whānau. The 26 to 28 students making up the whānau supports and cares for each other similar to an extended family. The child’s whānau teacher is one of the most important people in their life at college. They offer the encouragement needed; to excel, take up new challenges, grow resilience and find different ways to connect and belong to ‘Our Place’.
Each day after lunch the whānau class meet for 20 minutes. This time can be made up of homework, mentoring, pastoral care, games and activities and mindfulness. During this time the students have the opportunity to develop strong bonds with their whānau brothers and sisters and teacher.
PEER SUPPORT AND MEDIATION
New students are welcomed and supported by senior students within their whānau and through our Peer Support programme. All our Year 13 seniors are trained in Peer Support and Mediation during a trip to Great Barrier Island at the start of the year. Our Year 7's participate in this programme alongside our Year 13's during the first six weeks of the school year. The programme provides support to enable students to resolve their own difficulties in a positive and respectful way.
ANTI BULLYING
If you have concerns about your child being bullied please do not hesitate to contact our guidance counsellors to discuss further. Connections can be made via our school office.
HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS YEAR 12 PROGRAMME
Our young people face pressures from so many avenues that negotiating through it all can be difficult. Entering into the realm of relationships, parties and alcohol can be a minefield. Each year we run a Year 12 Healthy Relationships Workshop to assist our teenagers in making well thought out and wise decisions.
On the day all our year twelves are divided into groups in which they cover a lot, ranging from discussions on what is and is not positive behaviour in a relationship to what is the legal age of consent and the definition of consent.
Our local police come in and co-lead these workshops with our teachers. They offer valuable experience and insight in dealing with these issues having encountered all of the situations raised during the day. We are so grateful to the police for being proactive in wanting to support our young people in making good choices.
Student feedback is overwhelmingly positive; “hearing real-life stories made a big impact, especially because they were coming from the police officers“. They welcome the opportunity to talk about relationships and some of the “stuff we don’t usually think about” in a workshop environment.