Te Awamutu Primary School's 600th student Lika Bothma (second from right) with her nana Elaine Janse van Rensburg (left), principal Sharon Griffiths and mum Chané (right).
Te Awamutu Primary School's 600th student Lika Bothma (second from right) with her nana Elaine Janse van Rensburg (left), principal Sharon Griffiths and mum Chané (right).
Te Awamutu Primary School has surpassed the 600-student mark for the first time in its 146-year history.
The Teasdale Street school was founded in 1877 and didn’t have enrolment numbers that high even when combined with the Te Awamutu District High School.
As of Monday morning, they had 599 students enrolled, with three new enrolments beginning that morning.
Comparatively, on December 1, 2015, they had 476 students enrolled - a 26.47 per cent growth in just under eight years.
Principal Sharon Griffiths said because it was a zoned school, it was testament to the growth of the community.
“It’s a momentous occasion. It’s an indication of how the area is growing. Only people who live within our school zone can attend so it’s not necessarily a popularity contest, but how popular Te Awamutu is as a community,” Griffiths says.
“Our school board has invested in an extra $220,000 worth of teaching staff next year, to make sure that our class sizes are at optimal levels.”
The school was forecasting a maximum of 25 students per class, dependent on new enrolments.
“We’re going to put on extra classes next year. We don’t have the space. Unfortunately, we’re having to convert our library into two classroom spaces,” she said.
“We’re also in the midst of a re-cladding project on three of our classrooms, which is hopefully going to be completed by the start of [the new school] year. We’re doing it now to minimise disruption next year. That’s put us under a lot of space pressure now but, a little bit of pain now is long-term gain.”
A drone photo of the Te Awamutu Primary School students taken on Monday, November 20.
Griffiths said there was a lot of strategic thinking involved when trying to optimise learning for 600 children.
“It’s a bit of a chess game. You’re creating a strategic plan of where you are going to physically put each year group, with the classrooms you have available, keeping the teams located in the same area and considering the dynamics that exist between people.
“At the end of the day, the students are still our main focus and our priority. We want the right teachers in front of the right students.
“Different teachers have different strengths, in different areas of the school - senior and junior. When you have a larger cohort, you need to move the teachers around to suit the kids. On top of the 600 students, we’ve got around 30 teaching staff plus all the auxiliary staff to place.”
To mark the occasion, the students would have an extra 600 seconds (10 minutes) of playtime, while the school would also make a $600 donation to charity.
“It’s pretty exciting, but the Year 6 cohort leaves soon to go to intermediate,” Griffiths said.
“Next year we anticipate we’ll start around the 525 [mark] and then we start the steady process of just building up again.”
Jesse Wood is a multimedia journalist based in Te Awamutu. He joined the Te Awamutu Courier and NZME in 2020.
