Hawea Flat School supporters started work on an ambitious fundraiser at Timsfield this week when they turned the first sod in a house-building project.
A Maori blessing, attended by a small group of school children, their parents and local personalities, has cleared the way for builders and tradesmen to begin construction.
Lake Hawea elder Dick Cotter had the ceremonial first dig after school pupils took part in a procession around the section as part of a Maori blessing by Jeremy van Riel.
The primary school's Home Front fundraising project at the section in the Lake Hawea subdivision of Timsfield has already been the focus of several intense weeks of planning by a newly-formed school fundraising trust.
Trust chairwoman Lindsey Schofield said it would be exciting to see work begin.
"It only seems like yesterday that we came up with the idea and there has been so much to organise," she said.
The trust plans to build a three-bedroom house at the site - local tradesmen, suppliers, and supporters of the school are all mucking in with their time, skills, and materials - and auction the property.
The project is the first by the trust to raise funds for the school. The completed house will be auctioned and the proceeds used to help fund school activities and resources.
