Playground wiped out by storm

Our kura has been the heart of the Te Poi community for over a century, a second home to thousands of tamariki who have climbed, crawled, swung and squealed with delight on their adventure playground, complete with fort, monkey bars, flying fox, climbing webs and so much more.

On the night of that freak storm on January 21, the mighty oak tree that overlooked the playground providing valuable shade for our tamariki on those hot summer days, fell victim to the high winds and completely wiped out our beloved playground too.

Our amazing community volunteers rallied around to remove the debris. Many hands, big and small, helped clear the site and remove any danger before the tamariki returned to school.

While extremely thankful that no one was hurt and no buildings were damaged, our kids are devastated and our kura are wanting to bring the joy back ASAP!

Our school has been told it’s likely to cost about $155,000 to install a new playground and $50,000 for new shade sails since we now need sun cover.

We have insurance, but it’s likely to only cover half if we’re lucky. Our generous community has already donated over $6,000, but we still have a long way to go and we’d love your help to get there.

Ministry of Ed funding isn’t available for this, so we’re launching a true grassroots campaign, seeking out any former students, whānau and anyone touched by our story.

Every cent you can spare will help rebuild our playground and you will have personally helped bring joy back to Te Poi School.