Te Whakatipuranga – The School for Young Parents Tauranga was established in 2002 to provide a second chance education for teens who became pregnant while at school.

This year they are releasing a book telling stories of past students and how becoming a teen mum might not always be a bad thing.

The school wanted to provide a chance for these teens to continue with their education so they could create a better future for themselves and their children. While the focus of the school is on supporting students their NCEA Levels, the school also provides a one-stop shop of services to young mums.

The students can access onsite Plunket, Tamariki Ora, Social Worker, Clinical Psychologist, Doctor, Nurse, Driving Lessons, Teen Parent Service, Maternity Groups, Antenatal classes, weekly parenting classes, work experience and career guidance.

Robyn Merritt who is the coordinator of the book He Koropepe says when they were looking at how the school might celebrate their 15^th birthday, the idea of recording some of the students stories came into being.

'By 2016 some of the students' children were becoming teenagers themselves. We had kept in contact with many of our students, and previous students were often calling into school to update us on how their lives were going.”

'Most of these has been extremely successful in creating a better life for themselves and their children, despite having been a young mum.”

Robyn continued to say that the reason behind releasing this book is because it would be awesome if people could read the stories of the past students and gain appreciation of how gaining their education has led to the potential of the students being realised.

'The stories are just really inspirational, stories of hope, courage and growth, and of outstanding success in careers and as parents.”

'We would like our supporters to see how their contribution has led to such positive outcomes. The book hopefully will also provide inspiration to future young mums who are anxious as to the impact their pregnancy may have on their life.”

The offer to contribute to the book went out to all past students who would like to contribute and it has been a long journey collecting these stories and getting them into print.

The students have been really honest in their reflections and apart from minor editing in punctuation the stories have been left as they were written, which is from the heart.

'The publication would not have happened without the input from one of our past students Sarah-Jayne Shine, who now has her own very successful graphic design business Lemon Face Design.

The book He Koropepe, is being launched on Wednesday October 3, at Nomad on the Strand.

Quotes from the book:

'I started to think about my son and his future and what he deserved to have. To get him the life I wanted for him I would need a good job and for that to happen I had to return to school” – Dee.

Referring to the school: 'It was like an anchor in the storm, it kept me sane, it provided me with direction, distraction, compassion and understanding.” – Sarah-Jayne.

Studying fulltime, raising a child, and being a teenager is hard work. All of these things on their own are tough, but all together you get a dynamic that either makes you stronger or weaker, but the choice is yours.” – Latoya.

Referring to the school: 'It was the people, the company, the conversations. I didn't feel isolated and I felt human.” – Laura.

'A typical Mum is met with excitement and happiness when they announce their pregnancy… I got silence, fake congratulations, forced smiles and looks of concern. It was great to escape the judgement, be myself and speak to people who were experiencing the same joys and struggles.” – Amanda.

'When I visited I was met with kindness, warmth and empathy. There was not one little bit of prejudice that I was dealing with on a daily basis. I enrolled on the spot. With their support I started to dream about becoming a proud teen mother who was not a statistic but a success story.” – Katie.

'I needed to get back into education and figure out what I wanted to do as I didn't want to be just another young Mum living off the benefit.” – Tayla.