Action Matakana are always proud to host the many Year 13 students who are Service Academy Graduates from Waitakere College.
Since 2011 groups of Waitakere College students have come to stay and participate in team building and confidence development at the beginning of the school year. They camp for a full week on site at Action Matakana and participate in various training activities and take on the obstacle course, as well as drills, fitness programmes and visiting local adventure areas like Tawharanui Regional Park.
The Services Academies programme is run within secondary schools in partnership with the New Zealand Defence Force. The aim is to support future pathways for priority students through improvement of NCEA qualifications and development of leadership and life skills.
Funded for Year 12, Waitakere College have seen so many developmental benefits for their students, that they have extended it for qualifying students in Years 11 and 13.
What the school representatives say:
"The real life context brings the learning to life.
Waitakere College has been taking our Year 12 PE classes and year 13 Services academy to Action Matakana for well over 10 years. The staff are always accommodating and go above and beyond for most requests. They collaborate alongside you to design programmes tailor made to your students needs. The activities provided are like nothing you can achieve yourself, or from other providers; they are authentic to this organisation. We cover US 9681 and A.S 2.7 and AS 2.8 as assessment opportunities. The Action Matakana team excel at teaching the soft skills to students through the activities and their interactions with our students. Simply put, this place is awesome and the staff are just as awesome.
- Olivia Fugmann, Deputy Principal, Waitākere College
"I thoroughly recommend Action Matakana.
As a school we have been visiting Action Matakana for over 10 years, bringing students from West Auckland to stay and participate in the range of activities that the team provides, and every year it seems to get better. Our experiences have been fantastic and the students gain so much from engaging in the different challenges that they face. It really develops their team work skills and leadership qualities, and each year I have so many of the pupils tell me that they have learnt so much and have achieved things they never knew they were capable of.
- Mark Revill, MSA Head, Waitākere College
Student development programmes
The goal of all the customised activities provided for the school's participants is to develop trust in their fellow students, teambuilding skills, leadership and resilience.
Ex-Army Officer and owner of Action Matakana, Max Carpenter said:
"They were an awesome group; hardworking, super smart and incredibly polite. It was an honour to have them with us."
2020 Top Student Performers
These students were the top performers in their Teams. Left to right are Shalome Matagaono, Jay Vaamailalo and Jarvis Hemopo. Well done!
Even after a challenging week, look at the students' turn out- very smart!
