Tauranga programme teaching young girls life skills launches with big ambitions

Claire Henry, Stuart Caldwell and Prue Caldwell from Tipu Skills for Life. Photo / Supplied

A Tauranga after-school mentoring programme working with disadvantaged young girls is officially launching today, with hopes of running in schools throughout the Bay of Plenty.

The Tipu Skills for Life programme works with girls aged 8 to 11 years old, teaching them about life skills, identifying emotions, self-worth, healthy relationships and setting life goals.

It has been developed over the past eight years and so far students from Greerton Village, Arataki, Gate Pa and Merivale Primary schools have participated so far.

Labour MP and former Merivale Primary School principal Jan Tinetti has endorsed the programme and will be attending the launch.

The launch also marks the beginning of its partnership with Auckland-based mentoring organisation Brothers In Arms, which buddies up a young person with an adult mentor.

The course participants were referred to the course by school staff and some came from disadvantaged backgrounds and struggled with anger problems, difficulties forming friendships or other social problems.

The two-part programme involved an intensive eight-week segment where a group of about six girls and programme facilitators met for two-and-a-half hours every week.

This was followed by a second phase consisting of weekly meetings, mentoring and ongoing support services for both children and whānau.

The course was kicked off and finished up with a whānau hui, where students, parents and school staff met and shared dinner.

National programme developer and school social worker Claire Henry developed the course with national director Stuart Caldwell after she came across young girls smoking at school due to family peer pressure.

Aside from teaching the girls basic life skills and building character through a strengths-focused approach, Henry said the course also explored the girls' future dreams and life ambitions.

"They have a vision for the future."

She said improved leadership skills and better anger management were standout changes she saw in participants.

Caldwell said the girls had often never been exposed to the ideas and skills the programme covered.

"We ask them, 'If anything was possible, what would you like your future to look like'?" Caldwell said.

"Often that's a new concept because no one had ever asked them that question.

"They soak it up like a sponge."

The Tipu Skills for Life course is set to branch out into Fairhaven School and Te Puke Primary next term and has received expressions of interest from schools in the wider Bay of Plenty.

It has received funding from Bay Trust and private donors.