Te Puke businesses make up high school project shortfall

BayGold CEO Carl Simmons, Te Puke High School principal Alan Liddle and EastPack's Washer Rd site manager Ben Davies. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

Students and staff are celebrating the latest property development of Te Puke High School.

The school’s outdoor basketball court has been transformed into an artificial turf where a number of sports can be played including basketball, netball, volleyball and futsal. The outdoor space has been covered with an all-weather canopy.

The school used School Investment Package (SIP) funding given to most state schools to accelerate property upgrade work.

Principal Alan Liddle says the project encountered some barriers caused by Covid-19 lockdowns and significant increases in the price of steel.

As a result, there was a shortfall in funding to install bollards to finish the project.

Hearing about the shortfall, EastPack, Baygold and ACME Mechanical Services made contributions of materials, funding and engineering to allow the bollards to be installed to stop vehicles driving on to the turf.

“Support from local businesses to our local high school is always greatly appreciated,” says Alan.

Baygold CEO Carl Simmons says the company has a big staff with a lot of families whose children are at the school.

“So we just wanted to support local,” says.

EastPack’s Washer Rd site manager Ben Davies echoed the thoughts.

“Te Puke High School is key to the area and we were keen to support the community,” he says.

The school is now looking into funding to purchase drop-down nets for the sides and ends of the canopy.