For the first time ever, Police Pathway Programme students from Chanel College stood alongside Police staff at the recent Wairarapa awards ceremony.
Certificates of achievement were presented to five students who graduate this year. It was another special moment capping off an incredible year of study and experiences that the students have loved.
Sergeant Roger Newton says having the youth involved in the awards ceremony was about celebrating and sharing their achievements with the community.
Chanel College began delivering the Police Pathway Programme in 2021. This year, 16 students participated in the programme led by Deputy Principal Chris Senior with support from Roger.
As the police coordinator for the programme, Roger uses his operational experience to bring to life what the students are learning. This has included organising field trips throughout the year for the students to provide them with rare insight and some close-up action.
“The value of out-of-the-classroom learning is students being able to see for themselves the subjects they’ve covered, such as mental health and investigations, applied in a real-world policing context," says Roger.
“They also get to meet the people doing the work. I know the visits were equally special for the Police staff who were interacting with the students."
At the Royal New Zealand Police College, students observed recruits in training. At the Police Museum, there was information about the history of policing and the students got to complete a fingerprint printing exercise and keep their fingerprint as a souvenir.
Timing their visit to the Police Dog Training Centre in Trentham perfectly, they got to see operational police dogs in action as well as some cute pups. A visit to the 105 Non-Emergency Communications Centre in Kāpiti and Masterton station, closer to home, were also a highlight.
Roger says programmes like this are important because they equip youth with skills, experiences and values that are applicable in different spheres of life, whatever their goals may be.
“I still remember the police officer I interacted with at school," he says. "You never forget those positive memories. You want to follow in their footsteps and have the same impact on someone else, at least I did."
His advice for those eager to join Police was still the same - to get some life experience.
“If policing is what they really want to do, it will always be there and they’ll be better set up for it as a result.”
The first-place overall award is presented to the student who has displayed outstanding determination, commitment, and attitude towards their learning, and have achieved the highest academic attainment in the Police Pathway Programme 2023. The first equal recipients were Nikita Johnstone and Armand Du Preez.
Deputy Principal Senior says seeing his students alongside Police staff at the awards ceremony was special and it was a privilege to be a part of it. He was also full of praise for Roger.
“It has been the best year yet of the programme, and nearly all of that comes back to Roger’s amazing support, efforts, ease of ability to work with and how he connects so well with the students,” he says.
As a result of this year’s success, there are already 20 students enrolled at Chanel College in 2024. Work is under way to have the programme extended to more students across the Wairarapa with a new training provider.
The Police Pathway Programme aims to provide secondary school students with a basic understanding of the knowledge, skills, attributes and attitudes associated with the Police and policing in Aotearoa New Zealand. It also explores Police values and the physical and leadership requirements required to become a police officer.
And, of course, our hope is to see these students back as constables in blue in the not-too-distant future.