Owairoa Primary Annual School Gala, the most exciting event in the school calendar and the biggest fundraiser that the Parent Teacher Association organises meticulously every year, has been cancelled this year due to Covid-19.
Principal Alan McIntyre is as much disappointed as the students are about the fun-filled event that has been the highlight of the school year for more than 50 years. Last the theme for the gala was Trail of Terror an Owairoa Primary School rite of passage according to past students.
McIntyre says: “Even our famous Annual School Gala has paid the price of the pandemic and has been cancelled.”
The only ‘big’ event the primary school is having next term is the much awaited Book Week. This year the book week will have a Jungle theme.
The other major change the school is having is the addition of another six temporary classrooms onto their front field. These will remain for the next two years as they bulldoze the nine classrooms and replace them with a brand new $13 million, 18 classroom two-story block.
Add to that the remediation of the water damaged buildings and extensive other works and the school may be a construction zone-of-sorts for the next two years.