While most school teachers would have spent their school holidays relaxing, at least one principal got stuck into some DIY.
Trish Reddish, the principal at Whangaehu School, decided to redecorate the corridor at the small country school, which has about 18 pupils.
She said two of the school's rooms - the main classroom and library - have been refurbished, but part of the corridor was used as a junk area.
"The corridor was still the original very yellow walls and blue skirting and doors. I managed to tidy most things away," Mrs Reddish said.
"However, when the children went to the second classroom to do art or science, they were disappointed in their surroundings and often talked about how horrible the corridor now looked compared with our lovely refurbished entrance and break-out space."