With funding from the Government International Student Well-being Fund, our secondary schools received $500 each from LHB and ran successful programmes at school to support the interactions and integration between international and domestic students and to help students develop intercultural competencies.

This programme was also supported by ISANA NZ, a national peak body and association of international education practitioners across the country. ISANA NZ provided our student ambassadors with expert training on intercultural leadership and communications, which greatly enhanced student ambassadors' understanding of the purpose of this programme and prepared them for leading these initiatives at schools. As a result, central government agencies have endorsed our model of student ambassador programme and is keen to develop this into a national programme and roll this out to other regions.

Hawke's Bay is not leading the country by international student numbers due to the fact that we have no university in our region and very limited tertiary providers. However, our schools have worked diligently with LHB to develop and implement an outstanding student ambassador programme and we can be proud that we have led the nation by this programme.

Tamatea High School had 2 special outings with their international students, Student Ambassadors, Migrant students from the ESOL class, some students from the Japanese class, and some friends of international students.
On day 1 they went to 10 Pin Bowling,  walked up Te Mata Peak, and then visited Arataki Honey Factory. On day 2 they played Mini Putt and then had Gelato Ice-cream. Students made new friends and supported each other.

At Napier Boys’ High School, five junior international students, five junior domestic students and domestic and international ambassadors went to Splash Planet for a day. The boys enjoyed a kiwi BBQ and developed friendships and celebrated the end of a difficult year.

At Napier Girls High School, the funding was used to purchase the two panini presses and a toaster for the international room, and a vast selection of cards and board games, which encouraged social interaction between international students and their kiwi buddies.Annika, a student ambassador, coordinated the "culture club" on a weekly basis. This is when the international students and kiwi students interacted and learnt new card & board games. This became so popular it extended to most lunchtimes. New friendships developed, and by the end of term 4 the farewell gatherings had grown in numbers and tears!!With the remainder of the funding, international students and the Maori class got together for a shared lunch. During the term they had some group sessions where international students learnt some Te Reo.

At Woodford House, student ambassadors Emma Jackson and Suchya Techathong hosted a global culinary club in 2020. They brought the international and domestic students of all year levels together to learn how to make different food from around the world then enjoyed the results together.

This provided a great opportunity for the girls to bond over a topic of mutual interest, while getting to share and know more about each other’s cultures. The club activities coincided with Woodford House’s Festival of Cultures. It contributed to the enhancement of cultural awareness of the school community and helped to foster new or deepen existing friendships.

Iona College held three movie nights to get the students learning more about the cultures they had in the school and starting conversations. Movies were based around the Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish cultures - one each night. The funding given by Learning Hawke's Bay was spent on flags to decorate the Blyth theatre for the movie nights and ingredients to make food from the culture of the evening.