05/11/2025
Tupuranga Attendance and Engagement Service 📚🎓
Tupuranga walks alongside tamariki and whānau who have disengaged from education, helping them reconnect through whanaungatanga, manaakitanga, and culturally grounded support. The service empowers whānau to lead their own journey back to learning, wellbeing, and confidence.
For Shanelle and her son Jaedyn, the path back to learning wasn’t easy.
After moving between schools and programmes that didn’t quite fit, they were exhausted, trying everything but still feeling lost.
Then they met Nicole Parry, kaimahi with Tupuranga Attendance and Engagement Service. Through gentle, whānau-led support, Nicole helped them rediscover hope.
“She didn’t try to ‘fix’ him,” said Shanelle. “She listened, understood his wairua and whakapapa, and helped us find the right path together.”
With Tupuranga’s guidance, Jaedyn found confidence to speak up about his goals at a hui with a tertiary course provider, a turning point for both him and his whānau.
“At that hui, we saw our son grow right in front of us,” said Shanelle. “He was confident, open, and genuinely engaged.”
Today, Jaedyn is moving forward with renewed belief in himself, surrounded by aroha, structure, and the support of his whānau.
As Nicole says, “Sometimes success looks like re-enrolment and sometimes it’s just helping a young person believe in themselves again.” ❤
