A Western Bay school is reviewing whether to continue to send students to the river where seven people died this week.
Bethlehem College last year sent 160 Year 9 students canyoning on the Mangatepopo River during two three-day adventure courses, in the Tongariro National Park. It was the first time students from the college had done the activity.
Six students and a teacher from Elim Christian College in East Auckland died when a flash flood hit while they were canyoning.
Bethlehem College principal Phillip Nash, said the school would reconsider whether to send junior students at the end of this year,as planned.
The camp _ run by the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC) _ was so successful last year, and the canyoning so popular, the school planned to extend their time away from three to five days.
Letters have been sent home to parents advising them plans for this year's camp are on hold while the accident is investigated, and the college waits to see if OPC continues to run the course.
Mr Nash said Bethlehem College was a member of the same church schools association as Elim. As well as prayers, messages of condolence _ some hand-written by Year 8 pupils _ had been sent.
A staff member from Bethlehem College who was in Auckland yesterday, visited Elim Christian College, and Mr Nash said representatives from Bethlehem would attend a memorial service if one was held. "I had a son in the class that went and it makes it a little bit personal ... ."
Mr Nash said feedback he had received by staff and students was that the OPC camp _ and activity of canyoning _ was a good experience and that it was "very professionally run".
"It's been our intention to offer it to all Year 9 students," he said.
John Mudge, head of junior secondary at Bethlehem College, attended both OPC canyoning trips last year.
There were 80 students in each trip, broken into groups of 10
He couldn't comprehend how such a tragedy could have occurred.
"Boy, they must have been confident starting the activity ... Something must have happened pretty quickly for things to turn bad.
"Our students all came back and felt very confident, it was a worthwhile activity with a focus on leadership and working as a team."
Tens of thousands of New Zealand students have taken the trip over the 36-years the centre has been in operation.
Otumoetai College took a group of junior students to Mangatepopo for canyoning about three years ago, and likewise found the activity worthwhile. Staff had reported OPC's risk management and safety procedures to be "excellent", principal Dave Randell, said.
He visited the gorge several years ago and said it wasn't hard to imagine the sight of "flooding water rushing" through it.
The school "paused for a second" in yesterday's assembly to take heed of the tragedy, he said.
Acting principal of Tauranga Boys' College, Ian Stuart, described Elim's misfortune as the sort of thing to ``blow the whole community apart'.
"It was a freak accident ... water obviously rushed up and caught them by surprise, it's just tragic.
"That is your worst nightmare as a school ... to have kids out on camp ... some things you just can't judge."
Tauranga Girls' College sent flowers to Elim Christian College. They had students in the Mangatepopo Valley area last week.
School trip on hold after river disaster
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