This talk is on the revitalisation of the Maori language in New Zealand, but it has a lot of parallels with the situation of Welsh in Wales. Throughout the talk he makes some excellent points about the importance of passing the language to children, to making it a living community language, not just something learnt in school. It starts and ends in Maori, but the majority is in English.
That is true Maori were at one time were not allowed to speak Maori in school.
I know this isn’t why you posted it, @Deborah-SSi, but I’m just wondering if you know what made Ruatoki so buck the trend? I’ve read what English Wikipedia has to say about Ruatoki, but not being from NZ I can’t see anything in the article to explain - if it’s an area that’s particularly poor/rich/isolated/conservative/whatever.
Ruatoki is one of the few Maori speaking areas left in NZ. It is the area belonging to the tribe known as Tuhoe pronounced like ( tohoy). The Tuhoe people have stood against the crown, in regards what occured involving their lands. All the people I know from Tuhoe all speak Maori as native speakers. Theirs is a lovely language or reo. So through the ages Tuhoe people have spoken out against crown rights to their tribal lands. Hope that helps.
It’s been a long time since I lived in Aotearoa, so I’m glad to see @peterluke60 has answered with his experience.