Te Pahu School pupils granted audience with Prime Minister

SPECIAL SNAP: Prime Minister Helen Clark with Tonia Eckhoff and Te Pahu Room 5 pupils in her parliamentary office. Photo supplied

By Cathy Asplin

Around 15,000 students visit parliament each year to see where the politicians run our country. But tiny Te Pahu School had a special experience that none of the other students have had - they were invited into the Prime Minister’s office.

As Helen Clark is a former pupil of Te Pahu School, the group (20 Year 6 pupils and 14 adults) was afforded special treatment. Teacher Tonia Eckhoff says they were very fortunate to be the first school group to have this honour.

“I enquired before our trip whether it would be possible to meet the Prime Minister during our trip to parliament. It was very exciting to receive a call from her press secretary just before we left home to say that she would like to meet us in her office. When we got there she was keen to hear about our trip, what we did to fundraise for it and what the children thought of Wellington. In return she told the children some of her memories of Te Pahu School, enquired about the preschool’s anniversary and told the children she was hoping to get to enjoy some snow during her holidays.”

The visit was one of the highlights of the group’s week long visit to Wellington. They stopped off at the Waiouru Army Museum and Mt Bruce Wildlife reserve on the 12 hour road trip down. While in the Wellington they visited Capital E Studios to make a news show and the Soundhouse Room to make sound tracks. They visited the Island Bay Marine Reserve, travelled on the city cable car, went by train to Upper Hutt’s H2O extreme indoor pools, to Te Papa Museum and Wellington Zoo. The group hopped aboard the Interislander across to Picton to visit Seahorse World and the Edwin Fox Museum. Their trip back to the Waikato was on the Overlander train, capping off an action-packed, highly memorable week for the students.

Mrs Eckhoff says the trip required a huge amount of organisation and fundraising.

“Room Five families raised $11,500 dollars through a huge range of fundraising ventures. Amongst the events were movie nights, a duck race, paper bag auction, dinner for six auction, an ‘Amazing Race’ around Te Pahu and possum hunting. We also chopped firewood, did baking, made soup and sold wooden birds we made at the Pirongia Craft Fair. This kept the costs down for the trip - to just $58 per person. The trip to Wellington provided the students with an unforgettable experience. They were all wonderful ambassadors for their school and I would happily take them anywhere.”