Local Focus: The Kindness Cup is the biggest prize at Te Mata School

Every Friday the whole of Te Mata School gathers in its hall for 40 minutes of celebration and affirmation.

There is no shortage of praise and prizes at assembly, but the highest prize of them all is the Kindness Cup.

Gifted to the school by the Hinton family four years ago, the weekly award of a big silver cup celebrates everyday kindness by students at the Havelock North school.

"The Kindness Cup is where we celebrate our school values of respect, belonging and personal excellence," deputy principal Kirsty Panapa said.

"The Kindness Cup is really about our kids' character, it's about being a good person, it's about giving back and it's about helping others."

There is no shortage of nominations from teachers, who also present the cup with a long list of examples of how the cup winner shows kindness.

Most classes are team-taught at the school of 600 students, so having two teachers reading the winner's good deeds makes for a powerful presentation.

Many students actively try to win the cup, with the most recent winner, Ava Cargill, saying she had been trying since she started school three years ago.

The school's culture of kindness has grown to a Kindness Club which meets Tuesday lunchtimes, looking for more ways to spread kindness.

Panapa said celebrating kindness increased the level of students noticing and valuing each other.

"It makes a real difference to the whānau, the family feeling that we have here.

"Spreading kindness is the one human quality we have that can really make a difference to the people around us."

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