Te reo Maori, the Indigenous language of Aotearoa (New Zealand), remains 'endangered' despite concentrated ongoing efforts to reverse declining numbers of speakers. Most of these efforts have focused on te reo Maori immersion education settings as these were considered the most effective means to ensure the survival of the language (May & Hill, 2008). More recently, the home has been identified as an important setting for language regeneration (Te Puni Kokiri, 2011). Despite the fact that the vast majority of secondary school-aged students (both Maori and non-Maori) attend English-medium schools, these settings are seldom considered as having potential to increase numbers of te reo Maori speakers. This article reports findings from a case study of one English-medium secondary school where factors surrounding the uptake of te reo Maori as a subject were investigated. Using Spolsky and Shohamy's (2000) language policy framework as an explanatory lens, it was revealed that even when students' language ideologies orient them towards learning te reo Maori, language management and practice decisions can discourage rather than encourage this choice.