Tapawera Area School cools off with Tabloids Sports

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By Jeff Roland
A good way of starting the school year was found by Tapawera Area School when they held their annual Tabloid Sports. Tadmor House took the winners title followed by Motupiko and Baton. Students, staff and parents joined in a range of outdoor ‘fun activities’ that had all students working as teams including New Entrants pupils through to the seniors in Year 13.
The aim of this afternoon of fun and wet games, is to provide opportunities for school bonding, unity and leadership as well as lots of fun. The variety of events, based at 10 stations, included racing in the primary pool while wearing extra large tee-shirts, slippery slide activities to filling buckets with wet sponges.
Kirsty Griffith, the organizer of this event for the last seven years, said “Tabloid sports is a great way to start the year as we have mixed age groups working together. These children often travel on the bus together, it’s a great way for the younger children to get to know the older children in the school.
“That is one real advantage of being in an Area School. The children are placed into groups according to their house colours, therefore they are not necessarily with their normal peers. Great leadership skills were demonstrated by all of the older students. We had a great turn out of parents to support their students.”
Kelvin Woodley, Principal, commented that “The whanau like groupings serve to build a sense of belonging and connection across the school, which lasts and develops over the years.”