April Fools pranks: Tauranga school sale sign, goat mowers and goldfish regulations

Tauranga Primary School pranked students with fake "for sale" signs for April Fool's Day. Main photo / Tauranga Primary School, inset / Pāpāmoa Volunteer Fire Brigade

A primary school in Tauranga with a tradition of April Fool’s pranks knocked this year’s occasion out of the park.

Tauranga Primary School displayed for sale signs on its fence, auctioning “500+ awesome kids, premium playground facilities, highly skilled teaching team, a strong community and learning environment”.

Bonus features included a swimming pool with a diving platform, a sports field for future All Blacks in training, and an extensive lost property collection.

Principal Fiona Hawes collaborated with First National real estate agent Cameron Hooper to pull off the prank.

“He had the signs made, and I set the scene.”

Hawes said she emailed parents about the signs going up.

“Some parents were on to us from the start, but others were well and truly sold. It turns out we’ve got some very convincing storytellers on staff.”

Tauranga Primary School pranked students that the school was for sale. Photo / Tauranga Primary School

She said it got the kids thinking and asking questions – a really good skill to have.

“By lunchtime, we let everyone off the hook.”

This was not Tauranga Primary School’s first April Fool’s Day rodeo.

Hawes said five years ago, she told the students Jacinda Ardern was visiting the school, and the grass on the field had to be no higher than two centimetres.

“I had the whole school out there with rulers and scissors, cutting the grass to two centimetres.”

She said they trimmed a fair bit of the field.

Previous pranks also included promising a brownie prize, then cutting e’s out of brown paper, and an iPad competition, where the reward was a picture of an eye on a pad.

“Those moments of shared humour really help strengthen relationships across the school and the community,” Hawes said.

Firefighters and councils across the Bay of Plenty also pulled out all the stops for April Fool’s Day.

Top four April Fool’s Day pranks in the Bay of Plenty

Freshwater snapper

Gibbos Fresh Fish in Whakatāne announced the addition of freshwater snapper to its supply.

Its Facebook post read: “Thanks to a breakthrough and a very advanced breeding programme, snapper have officially adapted to freshwater conditions and the crystal-clear waters in Lake Rotomā”.

Motorised response

Pāpāmoa Volunteer Fire Brigade said it had added two additions to its fleet of response vehicles on Facebook.

A single-person response unit (SPRU) e-scooter, allowing firefighters to respond quickly and avoid traffic congestion, and a motorcycle for open-road incidents outside of town.

Pāpāmoa Volunteer Fire Brigade joked they added e-scooters to its fleet of response vehicles. Photo / Pāpāmoa Volunteer Fire Brigade

Going green

Whakatāne District Council told the community of its new “Eco Grazing Team” on Facebook to keep grass levels in check and reduce emissions.

“We’re going fully goat-powered,” the post said.

Whakatāne District Council added goats to its maintenance crew for April Fool's Day. Photo / Whakatāne District Council

A fishy discovery

An increase in “Nemos found conducting unsupervised laps” meant all goldfish needed to be registered with the Rotorua Lakes Council.

The council’s Facebook post asked goldfish owners to submit a passport-sized photo of their fish; provide the fish’s legal name, date of birth, favourite flake flavour, and swimming style; and pay a small fee of one shiny seashell.

Bijou Johnson is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Massey University.