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Wintec establishes roots in Whitianga

Wintec establishes roots in Whitianga in partnership with Ngati Hei

The Waikato Institute of Technology has partnered with Ngati Hei Trust to open the first satellite campus in Whitianga in years.

Wintec is one of New Zealand's largest and leading Institutes of Technology with 840 staff and 20,000 students studying degree programmes, diplomas and postgraduate qualifications annually.

In what’s described as a ‘seedling’ of a much bigger commitment to the community, a small group of horticulture students have started tuition at the Rural and Community Services Building on a waterfront site on Buffalo Beach Rd, which is due to pass into the ownership of Ngati Hei Trust as part of the Treaty of Waitangi Treaty settlements.

The classroom is operating in currently unused buildings and over a large area of former community gardens that were, up until just a week ago, completely covered in weeds.

Head tutor of the course is Howard Saunders, a resident of Hot Water Beach who has more than 40 years’ experience in the industry and once held the title of our district’s acting Head Gardener.

Howard says the organisation is grateful for the opportunity to provide higher education in the community on such a highly valuable and sought-after site. Under his tutorship, an area has already been cleared and planted with a first row of crops on the site.

“This is prime real estate, and while up until recently it was all outgoings, Ngati Hei now get a small amount of income but have immediately chosen to do something that really helps the community,” he says.

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The programme includes daily “hands-on” skill development and is based on research with industry about what they needed from graduates. It covers soil science, plant establishment, weed identification and control, and foundation skills for continued specialist study including a second term Applied Horticulture Services course specialising in Landscape Construction, which begins in July.

The current horticulture general course teaches students how to grow native plants from seed and gives them the foundation skills to develop horticulture projects in their community, including ecological restoration.

“It’s something we’ve been trying to get going for many years,” says Ngati Hei spokesman Joe Davis. “This is a [nationally recognised] course that is about horticulture, our wetlands; it’s about our coasts, our water quality, our harbours, our streams – it’s all connected.

“As Howard says, we are saving the planet one tree at a time. It’s a priority that we should all be taking.”

Howard’s experience includes planting the Coromandel’s biggest wetland restoration – on private land at Hot Water Beach - and major town centre upgrades and commercial landscaping projects from early planning to installation.

The horticulture Level 3 students are among a number being taught the course at campuses at Hamilton Gardens and other satellite sites at Huntly and Springhill Prison.

A Level 2 course was first taught by Wintec in Thames in the past few years a Level Four course in 2015. Enrolment numbers were twice that anticipated, allowing two courses to run simultaneously in Thames as well as Coromandel Town in 2015.

“We decided not everything needs to be on the coast of the Coromandel, so put this programme together with the best elements from the previous programmes and with Howard Saunders as the main tutor,” says Wintec Horticulture offsite programme co-ordinator Fiona Taylor.

She says that while the Whitianga-based horticulture course – which runs for 16 weeks from 9am to 3pm Mondays to Thursdays – has begun, there are still a few limited places for students who would be able to enrol by the end of the week.

Wintec encourages anyone interested to contact Howard or Fiona on Fiona.taylor@wintec.ac.nz immediately to talk through what’s involved.

Council's getting behind youth and employment

Our Council is 100% in support of initiatives like this one involving Wintec and Ngati Hei.

"One of the issues to gaining employment is gaining appropriate qualifications near your home town," says Thames-Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie. "It's heartening to see Wintec offering a horticultural programme in Whitianga along with a Satellite Campus in partnership with Ngati Hei Trust."

In 2013 our Council adopted a Youth Strategy, with two of the seven Strategic Themes in the Youth Strategy centered on education, youth training and employment. The Wintec/Ngati Hei connection is a strong contender for fulfilling this aim for Whitianga and surrounding areas.

The seven themes are:

· Education
• Youth training and employment
• Health and wellbeing
• Justice and crime
• Youth supporters
• Youth voice
• Leisure and social activities for young people

After the Youth Strategy was adopted we developed a Youth Action Plan which has brought many opportunities to the Coromandel, such as:

· Youth in Emergency Services programme to Thames (2015) and Whangamata (2017),

· Volunteer and Art programmes funded by the Ministry of Youth Development (2015 - 2017)

· A Business and Volunteer Expo held in Thames in 2016.

· Secondary School Employer Partnerships with Thames High School (2016-2018)

· Art initiatives held in each Ward (2015-2017)

· Can DO (Coromandel Action Network - District Owned) came out of an employer seminar aiming to create more jobs for young people on the Coromandel and more interaction with Industry Training Organisations, Polytechnics and Social Providers who offer opportunities for our young people closer to where they live.

· CAN DO's Driver Licence programme is also run out of Thames helping young people gain the appropriate driving licence and thereby secure or maintain employment

· Youth Awards and Youth Voice - a mechanism for young people to speak directly with their Community Boards through two youth representatives per Ward

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