In February, 10 years after it first opened its doors to 88 year 1-4 pupils and seven teachers, it celebrated with a birthday cake and an aerial photo of its pupils on the playing fields.
However, principal Ben Witheford says the feeling was "let’s do a birthday year perhaps ... let’s drag this thing out a bit".
So the school held an all-day celebration on Tuesday to mark the 10th anniversary of its official opening. A formal assembly and a ‘Showcase of Learning’ was followed by an afternoon of entertainment for pupils and their parents, including the final of its ‘Shotover’s Got Talent!’ talent quest.
Growth has been a constant at the school. It now has 600 pupils, and with further residential development in the works at nearby Ladies Mile, it’ll reach its capacity of 900 before too long, Witheford says.
He says one of his first official events as the founding principal was speaking to a meeting of parents. He remembers telling them the buildings and equipment were new and modern, but would immediately begin to age.
"I said what will really make the difference is the people.
"That’s what I’m most proud of — the teachers and the other staff, the kids, and the parents and their contributions."
Witheford wishes he’d kept a spreadsheet from day one of the volunteer hours parents had put into the school. "It would be in the thousands of hours.
"Schools in New Zealand don’t run without good parental support, and our kids wouldn’t get the range of opportunities they get without that support. All that didn’t exist beforehand, it’s had to build over time and it’s been really nice to watch."
He loves how the school’s become the "heart of the community". "You come here at four o’clock in the afternoon, or in the weekends, and there’s people around."
