Project Gilberthorpe
For over 30 years, Te Whare Awhero (Hope House) has been committed to working with young people and their families in the southwest of Christchurch. Our commitment to this mission has seen us launch “Project Gilberthorpe,” a series of social supports in partnership with Gilberthorpe School. Situated in the heart of Hei Hei and Broomfield, the young people and families that are a part of this community face significantly higher socioeconomic challenges than the rest of Christchurch. These challenges can follow children into school, affecting their wellbeing and learning, and impacting on the ability of the school to provide for their educational needs.
With Project Gilberthorpe, we can help alleviate some of these challenges through a range of social support which includes:
Providing an experienced and qualified school-based counsellor from Te Whare Awhero to work at the school for one day a week, supporting children dealing with a range of behavioural and mental health issues like grief, anxiety and depression.
Facilitating the parenting support programme, “Tuning into Kids.” This is a six-session programme which will run each term, providing parents with the skills to understand and respond to the emotional needs of their children.
Providing a community-connection, drama-based support group in partnership with Creative Stage. The weekly workshops would involve children and their parents in writing, developing and producing a drama production for the community.
Partnering with the Epic Sports Project to run the “Get Active” programme. Led by Bernadine Bezuidenhout, international cricketer who has represented both the South African women's cricket team and the New Zealand White Ferns, Get Active offers fun and engaging sports and activity sessions for young people to encourage healthy friendships and connections within the community.
Establishing a school support fund which will enable Gilberthorpe School to reduce the cost of sending children off to their annual school camps and other school outings. This will reduce a major barrier to many children being able to participate in extracurricular activities.
Bringing the kaupapa Maori programme, Te Manawa Ora to Gilberthorpe School. The children will learn about to mau rakau/taiha over the course of 9-10 weeks, leading up to a performance at the end of the programme. Te Manawa Ora enables children to explore their mana as individuals and develop a bicultural awareness in a nurturing environment.
Looking ahead, Te Whare Awhero will continue to develop a longitudinal whānau support programme with the capacity to partner with families from when their children are entering school, to the end of high school and beyond.
Our longer-term vision is to support 100 families who are facing the biggest challenges in this community, making it possible for their children to realise their full potential as we journey with them over time.
These initiatives can grow and build leaders locally which will help create sustained change from within. As Gilberthorpe School Principal, Andrew Wilkinson puts it:
“[Project Gilberthorpe] gives my students, the students of the lowest decile school in Hornby, opportunities that they would usually not be given, services that these whānau often miss out on.”
We hope that this will serve as an influence for positive change for the next generation.
We also want to send our deepest thanks to our supporters, the Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board, the Wayne Francis Charitable Trust, the Cassels Family, R. Ewing and E. Purdy for sharing our mission of bringing hope through Project Gilberthorpe.
If you’d like to support this project in any way, please give Director, Carey Ewing a call on 022 533 4415 or email director@hpct.org.nz