Grand buddies: Friendships between school kids and the elderly
The results, are delightful.
Jesse speaks to Glenwood Public School Principal Jay McInney
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RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Wellington social housing residents' desperate measures during unbearable summer heat
"Unbearably hot ... it's not even like a sauna, it's hotter than that." Josephine Thomas and her three year old son struggle in summer at the Newtown Park Apartments. "You can't sleep, my son's up, I'm up, we're kept up because of the heat." There was only one option when it got too much, she said. "Escape. Escape my own home which I pay for every week." With the sun beating in and little to no air flow, residents took desperate measures: tinfoiling window panes, permanently closing the drapes, and avoiding cooking. The evening was the hottest, but that was when people wanted to be home the most and cook dinner, Thomas said. She and other tenants would take their food and families elsewhere. Thomas was dreading next summer, and said she felt sad for her son and fellow tenants. "We want solutions, we don't want to keep having to put up with this, it's not good enough," she said. Residents in a Wellington social housing complex are taking desperate measures to avoid the unbearable summer heat. Photo: RNZ / Lauren Crimp Joan Buchanan has lived at the Newtown Park Apartments for more than a decade, and said she had raised the problem since she moved in. "I have already whited out my windows, I close the drapes, and the windows are open, yet it still is really, really, really, really hot," she said. In April, Buchanan took community housing provider Te Toi Mahana to the Tenancy Tribunal, but lost. She was seeking compensation for the portable air conditioning unit she had purchased. The tribunal found while Buchanan's arguments about overheating had merit , there were "no regulatory or legislative requirements for cooling buildings" - so she could not prove the landlord had breached her tenancy agreement, or tenancy law. "But my point is ... you don't put the law as your high bar. It should be your low bar," Buchanan said. Joan Buchanan. Photo: RNZ / Lauren Crimp Te Toi Mahana housing services general manager Daniel Tai said it went "above and beyond" for tenants. "Some homes may become uncomfortably warm for some tenants during summer months and our focus has been to work with other agencies to explore what solutions are available for them," he said. "To deal with overheating we provide two primary means of support, either facilitate a transfer to a cooler property, to another home that better suits their needs, or helping secure finance for cooling appliances." That involved providing a letter of support if tenants wished to seek help from the Ministry of Social Development. It could not do much else aside from taking the problem into account for future builds, Tai said. He was only aware of one complaint about overheating, but RNZ spoke to multiple tenants who had problems. Te Toi Mahana says it can't do much else apart from taking the problem into account for future builds. Photo: RNZ / Lauren Crimp Te Toi Mahana asked Otago University to research overheating in the Newtown Park Apartments. As part of the study, which is yet to be peer reviewed, researchers placed temperature monitors in seven homes. It found all homes recorded maximum temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, apart from those with portable air conditioners. Overheating during sleeping hours was a serious problem, said lead author and PhD candidate Zhiting Chen. "We focused more on sleeping hours overheating because we know it was a more serious issue and it affects our daily life and wellbeing a lot if we can't have a good sleep," she said. "The guideline we used allows bedroom temperatures to go above 26 degrees for only about 1 percent of the night, but in the flats, we monitored temperatures beyond that limit for 8 to 37 percent of sleep time." Portable air conditioning units were effective but pricey and difficult to use, so they were not a viable long-term solution for public housing tenants, the research said. "The study emphasises the urgent need for energy-efficient public housing that ensures year-round healthy thermal conditions for vulnerable populations." Te Toi Mahana would use the research to inform future housing developments, Tai said. Otago University senior research fellow Dr Kimberley O'Sullivan, who also worked on the study and leads the public health department's overheating research, said government regulations forced landlords to ensure homes were not too cold - but there was nothing to stop them being too hot. It had become more of a problem over the last few summers, she said. "We haven't really taken into account how to design for keeping ourselves cool during the summer in our homes. "This is a space where both policy and research are kind of running to catch up and try and understand what's happening now, and then think through how we could rapidly make some changes so that our houses can protect us from outdoor temperatures both in winter and in summer." Kimberley O'Sullivan. Photo: Robin Martin / RNZ The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said it was widely acknowledged that overheating was a result of poor design - including window shading, choice of materials, ventilation and building orientation. "MBIE is currently investigating options for supporting the sector with better consideration of these factors in the design of new homes and buildings," said its building performance and engineering manager, Dave Gittings. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
6 days ago
- RNZ News
Northland school rosters students to stay home over winter staffing crisis
Photo: 123RF A Northland school has been forced to roster students home due to a winter staffing crisis. Northland College in Kaikohe which has more than 300 students is currently about 10 teachers short, according to its website. College tumuaki (principal) Duane Allen told Midday Report students were being rostered home over four weeks although he admitted it wasn't an ideal situation. "So we started last week. This is our second week and we'll have two more," he said. "We want our kids to be able to come in and engage in their learning as much as possible at the college. "But we have to be pragmatic about health and safety and also the obligations that the board has as an employer as well. So in the past, in the first few weeks of the term, what was happening when we had high staff absence through illness was we were having to call on the goodwill of some of our staff to use the non-contact time to cover some of our classes." The principal said the school was forced to do the same thing last year for about the same period of time, however, the difference was the school made the decision later in the term. He said while he hasn't received any formal feedback from parents, whānau had mostly been understanding around the staffing circumstances the Te Tai Tokerau school was facing. The staffing crisis comes on top of a recent scathing Education Review Office report. Allen said he didn't think the report was a factor in the situation the school found itself. "No one from board level, management level has ever shied away from the black and white reality of our data. "However, that reality is something that extends well beyond the past sort of 12 or 24 months or even four or five years. It goes well back probably a decade or more. So we have to accept that and we don't shy away from what the data says." Allen said the school had found the ERO process challenging. "We found it difficult to have a conversation with the Education Review Office when they don't [listen] or they made it quite clear to us that they weren't here to listen to context or any of the narrative around the why things might look the way they did. "They made it very clear that they didn't want to hear about the inputs. They had a focus on the outputs and the outputs were those data measures that they have. Northland College is located in a challenging community in many respects, a beautiful community nonetheless. "We have an equity index number of 254. So, you know, we're kind of up there in terms of that recognition but that doesn't seem to have a place currently in the conversation with ERO or [the Education] Ministry around their perspective on where we sit," he said. Allen said considering the elements of transience, poverty and social challenges in the community, he accepted that sending students home could exacerbate existing challenges. "That is a question that we ask ourselves as a leadership team and a board before coming to this decision but ultimately, we need to make sure that we are looking after the health and safety of those people who are on site and if we don't have teachers to put in front of classes, that can become an issue. "Furthermore, the board needs to and has recognised our obligations as an employer. We recognise that our staff have demonstrated incredible goodwill in terms of using some of the non-contact time that is part of the collective agreement that we work under to cover some of those classes. "We also recognise that in doing that and asking staff to use that time that they might usually be using for planning or for marking or for following up on pastoral care for students, that we actually exacerbate the pressure that's on them." It was not a decision the school wanted to have to make, nor was it made lightly and all of the implications had also been considered. The ERO has been approached for comment. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
06-08-2025
- RNZ News
Auckland school Southern Cross Campus lockdown lifted
Southern Cross Campus in Māngere. Photo: Google Maps Southern Cross Campus in Auckland's Māngere went into lockdown briefly on Wednesday afternoon. A teacher at the school told RNZ they were just about to leave for the day when they were asked to go back inside. He said his 20 or so students were on the floor of the classroom, and they did not know what was happening. "Please refrain from contacting any staff at the school, as this could lead to distraction of their primary focus, which is caring for our students," a message on the school's website posted at 3.31pm on Wednesday read. Shortly after 4.15pm, the school said the lockdown had been lifted. "All students, staff, and persons on-site are safely accounted for. Everyone responded well to instructions and remained calm throughout the process," principal Samantha Smith said. "A notice will be sent out to parents/caregivers tonight with more information about the emergency lockdown procedures." Police have been approached for comment.
