Hamilton North School sell Fieldays programmes for a great cause
Hamilton North School has been selling the Fieldays programmes since 2008 and say it’s their biggest fundraiser of the year.
It’s a cold, frosty morning in the Waikato. The early morning mist has yet to rise and the sun faces a battle to warm up a rather bleak and chilly morning. It’s around 6am and the preparations are under way for what will be a busy day at the Mystery Creek venue. The first visitors, usually farmers, pass through the gates at around 7:30 looking to make the most of the time away from the farm. A friendly face will greet them at the entrance asking if they wish to buy a programme. ”The proceeds are going to a great cause.”
Throughout the four days of Fieldays, people from all parts of life will come to the agricultural expo. Many who buy a programme for the event may not be aware of the story behind it.
Hamilton North School first got involved with the Fieldays in 2008 when a teacher saw an advertisement in a paper wanting programme sellers. Principal Tony Kane took the initiative and contacted the event organisers saying the school was happy to do it. They organise programme sellers, set up booths round the venue and bag all ten thousand programmes that go on sale.
“We worked out that we would need about 25 volunteers a day. We asked the parents for help, they said ‘we can’t but what we will do is keep our students at home which will free up other staff’. It’s a joint staff, parent effort,” Kane says.
Students who can’t stay at home during the day come into school where there are still staff working.
It is the school’s biggest fundraiser for the year. They leave the school just before six each morning to the venue. There are six booths around the gates that they stock up and sell programmes from, arriving back at school at around five in the evening.
“We bag 10,000 programmes, and if we can sell all of them then we have done really well. Before we took over they were producing 16 thousand and selling about 3 thousand, so we have improved the sales.” Kane says.
Since they first participated in 2008 the school has put the funds towards a number of useful items.
“First year we actually raised funds for a new van. We have bought sound systems, iPads and put it into the environment. We have always put it towards something that would benefit our students and that’s the whole aim.”
This year it looks likely that the classes will get another iPad each.
Along with raising funds, selling the programmes is also a chance for the school to advertise what it does, who it caters for and let buyers know that each programme they buy benefits the students. In previous years there have been news stories written about them and this year an article has been published in the Straight Furrow.
“That way we get known throughout the whole of the country, which is really good,” Kane says.
Fieldays is the school’s main fundraising event, but it also participates in many other fundraisers and activities to help the students. There is a group travelling to Australia, and the school has a stall at the Gordonton Market which sells preserves and jams. It collects scrap metal throughout the year and runs an annual motorbike rally.
Hamilton North has 113 students who have intellectual disabilities or both intellectual and physical disabilities. Students are funded by ORS funding (On-going Resourcing Scheme).
“With the students a lot of it is about learning life skills, for some are non-verbal, others are verbal but restricted to wheelchairs and some students can manage for themselves but their cognitive ability is not good,” Kane says.
The school does a lot of work with teaching students social skills so that they can go out into the public.
“We take the vans and take the students shopping, we go ten pin bowling and play golf. Places that they would visit when they leave school so they don’t look out of place. So we spend a lot of time just walking in the community so they are being included,” Kane tells.
Tony Kane has been principal at Hamilton North for 11 years and in that time the student number has grown from around 60 to today’s 113. The staff number has also increased from 10 to 30 with 45 support staff/ teacher aids working in the classrooms.
Hamilton North is at its capacity. Future plans for satellite classes at Te Totara and Horotiu would increase the numbers and create expansion opportunities. For now though teachers and staff look forward to the fundraising at the Fieldays and know that the students are going to benefit from the few days’ work. “What part of that doesn’t bring a smile to your face?”
