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Customer success story: Manurewa South School
Manurewa South School chose KiwiSchools to boost community engagement.
Manurewa South in South Auckland is led by Tone Kolose. The diverse mix in this decile 1 school gives it a richness and strong sense of community. Around half of the students are Maori, with the remainder consisting of Pasifica, Indian, Asian and Pakeha/European.
Busy families—limited access to technology.
One of the biggest challenges all schools face is community engagement. Families are busy, often working more than one job. They’re hard to reach, and even harder to engage.
The community is in one of the lowest socio-economic areas in Auckland, and the availability of internet and devices in the home is low which presents an extra set of challenges.
Prior to partnering with KiwiSchools, the Manurewa South leadership team invested considerable time and energy encouraging engagement with the school and school events, but with limited success.
A tailor-made communication solution.
Manurewa South chose to work in partnership with KiwiSchools, to use various KiwiSchools tools to ensure maximum engagement.
The solution to the ongoing complexity of communicating with families needed to be a multifaceted approach to ensure best access to information for ALL families regardless of their ability to access an expensive device or home internet.
Website that aligns with the school culture and values
Through consultation and collaboration, KiwiSchools built a website that reflected the rich cultural diversity and strong sense of community at the school.
Communication tools that fit the community.
It was identified that the majority of families did have access to a smartphone. The KiwiSchools App, as part of the KiwiSchools suite of communication tools, became a primary communication tool for Manurewa South ensuring that notifications and e-newsletters could be delivered in real time.
We knew that the majority of our families had access to a smartphone, even if they didn’t have home internet or home computers.
Toni Kolose
Principal, Manurewa South School.
Guided launch to the school community.
Principal, Tone Kolose and Associate Principal, Jackie Yates worked closely with KiwiSchools in the rollout of these tools to ensure a smooth transition in communication methods for the Manurewa South community.
Improved sense of belonging
Jackie started to use the website to celebrate the students successes, incorporating video and student voice to ensure the website was a robust reflection of the wonderful teaching and learning, cultural and sporting activities that Manurewa South had to offer.
Better communication and engagement.
Admin staff at the school have been able to see an increase in absence reporting through the app and website. This can be attributed to the ease of use of the platform and the accessibility via a smartphone. Families could also quickly and easily engage with the students online learning activities and resources on the home learning pages during the Covid lockdowns. Stats on website visits and unique visits reveals a growing trend in whanau engaging with the website. It is great to be able to track these results and see a measurable increase in community engagement.
The process of engaging families is ongoing but from Manurewa South’s point of view the trend is looking promising.
Through the new website it is evident that teachers and learners alike have a feeling of pride in their school and a sense of belonging within the school community.
Jackie Yates
Assistant Principal, Manurewa South School.
