We were privileged to have an excellent presentation from Te Rina Leonard. In 2023 she was appointed CEO of the 103-year-old Correspondence School. She outlined the challenges of heading such an important organisation.
Te Rina outlined her background as a psychologist and her love of learning. From originally providing remote learning for children in rural settings and families in remote lighthouses, it has now developed as a service to provide opportunities to learn for a wide range of children and young adults. She described the scale of her work. There are 900+ staff in 15 regional officers and up to 200 learning centres across the country providing opportunities for young adults to undergo a ‘reset’ in their learning. Te Kura provides not only the basics in education but also has developed a greater self-confidence for many young people entering the job market. Te Rina described the learning as being bilingual and providing a flexible, creative approach to learning. She provided many statistics that showed the composition of those taking advantage of this learning along with an impressive story of its growing importance in our educational offerings. It has aided children to reintegrate into regular schools. She emphasised that the general public do not fully understand the value of Te Aho Te Kura Pounamu.