Kawaha Point School turns 25

By CHRIS BRAMWELL in Rotorua
Amber Watson remembers waiting at the Kawaha Point Primary School gate for the first school bell to ring on opening day 25 years ago.

Her seven-year-old daughter Nicole is a second generation Watson at the school, but there have been three generations involved with the school.

Mrs Watson's mother Deidre Barnett was a member of the inaugural committee, helping with fundraising for the school, planting the gardens and knitting the Maori Club bodices that are still used.



Mrs Watson said a lot has changed at the school over the last 25 years.

"There is a new office, the piazza and there are now internal walls in the classrooms.

"When the school was built it was based on an open plan design, which was quite contentious at the time," she said.

The school now has collapsible walls so classrooms can be closed off or opened up.

"The thing that makes Kawaha Point School special is that it has a real sense of belonging, it is really family oriented," Mrs Watson said.

Nicole agrees and adds that she has some of the same teachers that her mum had.

Linda Woon has been the principal at Kawaha Point Primary for the past 13 years.

She said aside from the structural alterations and additions to the school, changing technology has played a large role in the school's evolution.



"We used to use a banda machine to print the school newsletter. We'd get all covered in purple, smelly ink. Now we just send it through the intranet to the printer.

"It's quite amazing when you think about how quickly it has all changed,"Mrs Woon said.

Tomorrow the school will celebrate its 25th anniversary with an afternoon and evening jam-packed with events and activities.

Rotorua MP Steve Chadwick, whose children attended the school, will cut the school's jubilee cake.