Rotorua secondary school students are learning how to build homes while at school.
Rotorua secondary students are helping plug the housing gap by getting out of the classroom and learning trades hands on thanks to a partnership with Kāinga Ora.
Rotorua Boys’ High School and Western Heights High School run trades training programmes and so far nearly three homes have been built with another three on the way this year.
The school principals are raving about the scheme, saying the students are able to learn hands-on skills that will fast-track them into an industry that’s desperately short of skilled workers.
Boys’ High principal Chris Grinter said not all students wanted to go to university or tertiary education and the trades training academy allowed them to get a first-hand glimpse of what the building industry was like.
The school was the first in the Bay of Plenty to offer the trades training academy and last year had 18 students who built two three-bedroom homes.
Last week the homes were trucked off site in preparation for their new sites in central Rotorua.
Grinter said out of 18 students last year, 11 were now doing apprenticeships in the industry and helping to plug the nationwide shortage of builders.
Rotorua Boys High School Trades training unit have built 2 homes for Kainga Ora which will be sited in Rotorua. Titoko Rogers 17 (left) and Laurie King. 20 February 2023 The Daily Post Photo / Andrew Warner
The programme has 22 students this year and they are building a three-bedroom and a four-bedroom home.
Grinter said they spent five hours a week doing numeracy and literacy and did 20 hours’ hands-on building under the watchful eye of licensed professionals running the programme.
He said the partnership with Kāinga Ora meant the programme was cost-neutral for the school.
Western Heights High School principal James Bracefield said he couldn’t believe the awesome opportunities now available to students and the trades academy partnership was one of them.
He said his school came on board last year with a group of 20 students who completed one house. Another group of 20 would complete another house this year.
He said their school ran their programme slightly differently and instead of sending the entire class out with the builders, they went in pods of up to five students one day a week to get more one-on-one tuition. The rest of the time was spent doing other school classes as well as one period a day doing theory studies relating to building.
Bracefield said it was a worthy programme because the students not only got to know what it was like in the industry, but got to meet and work alongside other subcontracted tradespeople such as electricians and plumbers.
“They can see their work ethic and attitude and often they will get picked up for other apprenticeships. The students get more aspirations for what parts in the trades they want to pursue as well.”
The Western Heights High School home gets signed off in March and was earmarked to be trucked to a site in Murupara.
“It’s such an awesome project. The amount of opportunities at their fingertips compared to what we had is great to see.”
Last year’s Western Heights High School programme had two girls — including Ocearna Morgan who was given the top award for the class, the Whakatutuki Trophy,-at the end-of-year prizegiving.
“She was fantastic and was apparently like a foreman on the site bossing all the boys around.”
Western Heights High School trades training participants (from left) Technology Head of Faculty Phillip Bulkeley, Troy Sherwood-Devery, 17, Leah Walker, 17, Daniel Westman, 17, and builder Tony Pepping. Photo Andrew / Andrew
Kāinga Ora delivery programme director Nick Seymour said there were now three trades academy partnerships in the Bay of Plenty, including Ōpotiki College, and 12 throughout New Zealand.
Seymour said students built the homes at their campus, supervised by a licensed building practitioner. The homes are warm, dry and healthy dwellings built to New Zealand Green Building Council 6 Homestar standards.
He described the partnerships as a “game-changer” for students, schools, and communities.
“Students have the opportunity to build skills and get real-world experience, building homes for those in need of warm, dry new homes. The partnerships are also building a pathway into the industry and creating a pipeline of rangatahi with employment-ready trade skills.”
The homes built by Rotorua Boys’ High School students will go to an existing Kāinga Ora property on the corner of Amohau and Eruera Sts to replace an old and no-longer-suitable duplex building. A third house being built by the students will also go on this site, with completion by the end of the year.
