Quick turnaround for Paengaroa Top School

Top School at Paengaroa School is back on Sunday.

If it feels like it’s only five minutes since the last Top School competition - that’s because, figuratively speaking at least, it is.

On again on Sunday, the Paengaroa School-hosted event is back to its usual March staging after last year’s event was postponed to September due to the imposition of Covid-19 restrictions.

Principal Bruce Lendrem says while that has meant there has been half the time available to organise the event, it was important to get back to a March date.

“Everybody is being really supportive of that, which is really wonderful. It will be nice to get back to the March cycle, just before kiwifruit [harvest],” he says.

There will be a full field of 22 teams from schools between Ōtamarākau and Pāpāmoa.

“It looks like it is going to be well-supported by everyone.”

“Maketū Fire Brigade will be helping us with the horizontal bungee jump again, which is really appreciated - they’ve been doing that for more than 23 years - and a lot of our sponsors are back for the long haul.”

There will be the usual nine games - each one sponsored - including the pole balance, leaky bucket, horizontal bungy and magic carpet.

Top School is a major fundraiser for the school.

A proportion of the money raised goes towards funding swimming lessons from Baywave staff for pupils in the school’s pool.

“That’s fantastic and takes a quarter to a third of the funds raised, then we subsidise sports teams and buy some more technology,” says Bruce.

“We are just trying to ease the pressure on families - although the main thing is [the event] engages the community in an activity that’s good for everyone.”

The school has been lucky throughout the pandemic in that it has not had to cancel any fundraising event.

“A few have, which is harsh, but we have a swimming pool, so we can’t afford to lose a fundraiser, because a swimming pool costs a fortune to run.”

After Sunday’s event, Bruce will have been principal at the school for 24 of the 25 times Top School has been held - Bruce Julian was principal when the inaugural Top School was held in 1999.

There will also be cheerleading competitions and a gala alongside the day of games.

The games begin at 10am.