Specific Pathways

Success together; success for our futures.

At Mana College, we offer a number of “specialised” pathways to support students in specific areas of study.

Services Academy

The Services Academy has been a long-standing program at Mana College for the last 16 years. The Services Academy fosters student engagement and achievement through a military oriented setting ideally suited for students interested in pursuing a pathway into the New Zealand Defence Force or similar occupations. The program offers students the opportunity to engage and train with the New Zealand Defence Force and grow in a climate that instills personal discipline and high regard for self and others. Students will develop essential life and employability skills designed to support success and navigate their way through the working world. Teamwork, leadership skills, and a determination to master physical and mental challenges are a few of the many skills and ethics students will develop to become resilient and independent thinkers. The program caters for up to 20 students aged 16 years and over.

  • Harley Nuku, Director Services Academy

E Tipu E Rea

E Tipu E Rea offers students who are committed to both the Te Reo and their Māori identity, the opportunity to succeed as Māori in all fields of study. This teaching and learning environment run from Year 9 to Year 13. To be part of this programme, students and Whānau need to be committed to the kaupapa and students need to be prepared to remain at Mana College until the completion of Year 13. This is not an immersion programme but as close as a mainstream school can get to a bi-lingual setting. Mana College’s goal is to staff E Tipu E Rea courses with Māori role models.

Entry to this opportunity is by an interview with our Kaiako.

A special component of our Junior school is the ‘E Tipu e Rea’ programme.

This is a Year 9-10 combined class, which is marae-based and uses key elements of tuakana-teina, curriculum integration and whānau involvement and support.  Students in this programme report how connected they feel about their school experience, “Joining E Tipu e Rea has given me a clear view of what Te Ao Māori is all about”, “All of us are family and family is everything, that’s what I love about the whānau unit.”

Te Whare Ako

Te Whare Ako is a group of ORS-funded students. They are at the heart of Mana College and contribute to the wholeness of our school community. Coming from a variety of ethnicities and cultures and a range of aptitudes they look out for each other.

The students in Te Whare Ako have the choice of being fully or partially mainstreamed or taught in a closed environment. Every student will be on a pathway leading to an opportunity for NCEA certification. Te Whare Ako is a well-resourced and fully staffed unit.

Construction School

The construction school is a creative and forward-thinking approach to the provision of responsive vocational pathways. Connecting with the government’s housing regeneration plan, the Porirua Workforce strategy, and the growing need for qualified builders in this community, the construction school provides students with real-life building experiences along with BCAT qualifications at Levels 2 and 3. 

Currently, we have two classes running (one at year 12 and one at year 13) with each class building a 3 bedroom house from the foundations up. The houses are taken away at the end of the year and sold. Ambitiously, we aim to build up to five houses per year in the future using the construction school as a local building hub for secondary school students. Ultimately, we want local rangatahi building houses for local people.