Te Awamutu Primary School held their second annual colour run last month. Photo / Jesse Wood
Te Awamutu Primary School held their second annual colour run last month. Photo / Jesse Wood
Te Awamutu Primary School made rainbows in cloud form at their second annual colour run last month - fittingly on a sunny day, after weeks of poor weather.
Teacher Liarna Slade spent months planning and preparing for the August event, bagging over 140 kilograms of coloured powder for the “organised” chaos.
The day was bright with regard to both the colours and the happiness on the children’s faces.
Kids, parents and teachers threw colours at each other while running around a circuit on the field.
The colour run is one of the students’ favourite days of the year and coincides with cross-country.
Principal Sharon Griffiths said it was an amazing day for everyone involved.
“The last two years, we’ve made our competitive cross-country optional. What we found is that most students still participate in the competitive one because they’ve trained for it and because they’ve got support people coming to watch them.
“We had the competitive cross-country in the morning, which gave a chance for the kids who normally do well at running to excel and to showcase their skills.
“The purpose for our colour run and the competitive cross-country was twofold. We wanted the students to participate and see running as something that was enjoyable and fun.”
Students and adults prepare for the Te Awamutu Primary School colour run. Photo / Jesse Wood
Griffiths said combining the cross-country with the colour run had bumped up participation levels.
“We’re always working on improving our attendance rate, particularly since the years of Covid. That’s another advantage of having a colour run. It helps people realise how important a school is and we’re offering these fun opportunities. It’s not just school; nine until three, sit in a classroom and read from a book.”
The other message behind the event was to bring a sense of community - coming together. To encourage community participation, the school heavily subsidised the cost of the coloured powder to make the day affordable and accessible for all.
“I think we were successful on both counts. To see the kids running around, big smiles on their faces, alongside their parents and teachers - pelting them with powder - was fun and enjoyable,” Griffiths said.
“I would say that we probably had a couple of hundred of our community involved. We’ve got an amazing community.
“Our community are really, I find, focused on our children, and everybody helps out because they want events like this to be successful.”
Advised to wear white, by the end of the event everyone looked like they were wearing tie-dye shirts.
Several local food and coffee carts supported the event and were on-hand to purchase food and refreshments from.
Griffiths thanked Slade for everything she had done towards the day.
“We just really appreciate Liarna’s work. She’s the driver behind the colour run and all of its organisation. She delegated out some of the jobs for the other teachers to do because we couldn’t do these events without all hands on deck and everybody supporting.
“[We’re] always willing to take feedback, too. This year we made some tweaks. Every year we do it, we get a little bit more knowledgeable and experienced. But overall, I think that it was hugely successful.”
