School no longer 'hot and boring'

HAPPY DAY: Acting principal Virginia Shortland (far left), David Rewha and Fraser Johns, and some very excited children at last week's re-opening of the Herekino School pool.

Kingston Nathan spoke for everyone when he said last week that he had been sad when Herekino School had had to close its swimming pool.

It had been "really hot and boring" without it, he said, adding that Herekino was a small school, and would never have been able to afford to fix it.

That's where Intergroup, a conglomeration of 35 companies covering a wide range of businesses, and Rudolph's Ltd., a family-owned Northland business specialising in abrasive blasting, came in.

David Rewha (Intergroup) said his boss had seen the story about Herekino's defunct pool on TV3's Campbell Live, and had told him to go and fix it. Fraser Johns (Rudolph's) had told him what to do and how to do it, and on Thursday, with the cracks filled and sealed, the pool waterblasted, resurfaced, concreted and painted, the children were officially back in the swim.

Mr Rewha told the assembly that preceded the first official swim that he had been honoured to be part of the project. There had been some tragedies in the North, involving children who had not been able to swim, and he hoped the restored pool would help reduce the risk of more.

Acting principal Virginia Shortland said the work done by the two companies, all at no cost to the school, was very much appreciated.

Everyone was aware of the schedules of big businesses, and was grateful for the time and effort that had been freely given.

"God bless you," she said, adding that fewer than half of the school's 36 pupils would be able to swim a length of the pool without stopping.

"This will be an awesome asset for the school and the community," she said.

The children made no secret of their gratitude either. Pane Terewi said she had been at the school for four years, the last three without a pool (although a para pool had been set up over the last couple of years).

"Now you've fixed it and we can use it. Even my little sisters can learn to swim," she said.

Khalan Clyde, a pupil there for seven years, said the pool was now in the best shape it had ever been, "thanks to you guys."

"We don't have flash things or state of the art buildings, and the swimming pool is important to us," he added.

The formalities over, Ms Shortland announced that it was now "game on, time for fun (in the pool) and a feed."

The pool restoration project also had the support of Water Safety New Zealand's Save Our School Pool campaign.

It had been one of a dozen in the Far North, and more than 130 around the country that had been at risk of closing before the SOSP took up the cudgels, Water Safety New Zealand's Wendy Pannett said, adding that 156 school pools had closed nationwide in the past six years.