Paul Hursthouse, Director of Business Relationships and Transitions at EIT | Te Pūkenga, outside Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre, which is one of a number of council facilities being used by ākonga (students).

The Hastings District Council has made available council facilities, including space at Splash Planet and Toitoi, for EIT | Te Pūkenga in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.

More than 100 EIT | Te Pūkenga ākonga (students) are now able to continue their studies face-to-face because of the partnership.

Paul Hursthouse, Director of Business Relationships and Transitions at EIT | Te Pūkenga, says the support they have received from the council has been fantastic.

“Their ability to respond and support EIT | Te Pūkenga with  such short notice has been greatly appreciated and valued.”

When Gabrielle first hit, and the Hawke’s Bay Campus in Taradale was unable to be used due to damage, they reached out to local councils for teaching venues.

“We were able to continue almost seamlessly with teaching thanks to our partnership with Hastings District Council. Other community venues came on stream as well, which has allowed us to provide teaching in person that supports the online delivery we have had to ramp post cyclone.”

At Splash Planet, ākonga in the Trades Academy (a partnership between Secondary Schools and EIT | Te Pūkenga), as well as those studying programmes in Computing, or the NZ Certificate in Study and Career Preparation [Level 4] have made use facilities for learning at the theme park.

“When we were desperate for a venue, Hastings District Council came to the party with the conference venue at Splash Planet. We had students in our computer programmes come in, gave them an induction on computing, got all of their logins, set them up and coached them so that they could start learning online.”

Now, the Study and Career Prep ākonga come in four days a week, while the Trades Academy uses it on a Friday. Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre, has become a hub for our art and design programmes. 

Without support from Hastings District Council and others, Paul says they would not have been able to get up and running as quickly.

“While there are many programmes that have needed to go to online learning with the significant damage to the campus in Taradale, some students find that really challenging, so having these venues available allows us to support them with some face-to-face contact.”

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst says Hastings District Council is  “very proud to be able to provide space for EIT students”.

“We came together to find solutions to keep our young people’s education plans on track. It is part of doing everything we can to get as many people as possible back to normal as soon as possible.”