Govt to seize back control of schools

‘‘At 9am on my first day as principal of a small primary school, I shut my office door and burst into tears. After just 30 minutes on the job, I’d been sworn at by a child, abused by a parent, and a teacher had threatened to walk out. It only got worse. I had kids breaking windows. There were four or five fist-fights a day. The police were on call.

I’ve travelled the world. I have seen hard and I have done rough. But this was something else. It was not how a school should function. The behaviour issues meant there was no such thing as learning. I went home crying every night and said ‘I’m not going back’. But I did. Because nothing has ever beaten me – and I was furious this was happening to our children.

I wrote a list of every child’s needs.. Seventy five per cent of our kids had high-level health, wellbeing, behaviour or academic issues. It broke my heart every single day. So our staff meetings weren’t about appraisals or the curriculum – they were about survival.

In one family, the kids’ clothes were dirty because they had no power. In another, the fridge didn’t work, there were rats in the walls, and the ceiling leaked. Their kids were constantly sick. It was clear the landlord didn’t care: I suspected in his eyes they weren’t ‘good enough’ people to have the house repaired.

Some kids weren’t at school because their parents had no money for petrol. The stress was immense, and there were a lot of mental health issues. Tough, then, to bring your child up with a lust for life.

When I realised that this was bigger than me, I reached out to everyone who could help. The kids lacked resilience. So we ran programmes about friendship and anger management. The kids have learnt to brainstorm, and problem solve, and communicate. Now we don’t have fights.

The other issue was hunger. Now, with KidsCan’s help, I watch 15 to 20 kids sitting around the school’s breakfast table every morning, chatting over a hot meal of baked beans.

The day we handed out KidsCan jackets and shoes was incredible. ‘‘Oh Miss, this is the coolest thing I own.’’

But caring for these kids does take its toll. Our teachers are psychologists, doctors, behavioural therapists, and, for a small part of their day, educators. My biggest fear is that our kids’ needs are far greater than the Government recognises. They don’t understand what’s really happening in our schools. These are beautiful kids. They just need to know we believe in them.

To sponsor a Kiwi kid in need for $20 a month, visit kidscan.org.nz