How do you maintain school pride without a regular uniform? The students at Koputaroa School have come up with a solution that enables them to represent their school with pride.
As a rural school located about seven kilometres north of Levin, Koputaroa School doesn’t have much need for a day-to-day school uniform. They’re a rural school with an urban outlook – encouraging confident, independent learners with different indoor and outdoor learning spaces. The decile six full primary school (which runs from Years 1 to 8) has around 186 pupils, and offers up a range of activities, including maintaining a school veggie garden, park-like grounds and traditional events like Ag Day.
For those times when they’re representing the school in the community, Koputaroa School students have a uniform they can borrow to wear. But the uniforms were getting tired, and the school came to Eastern and Central Community Trust for help to fund a replacement kit. They were granted $2,500 and it all went towards a uniform update.
The original uniform was designed by Year 8 students, so with the help of local designers Kapinua – part of The Company Branding Shop Limited, senior students updated the motifs and worked alongside the designers to see how the whole process worked from creation to printing. The finished product reflects the school colours of red, black and white, and features a kereru.
Sport Coordinator Janine Waddell says the new prototype design was loved by all. “We use this uniform any time the students are off-site representing the school doing community service, at sports or choir performances, and for organised events like EPRO 8 and literary challenges. It’s a trendy design, and the students wear it with pride.”
The uniform is available for all students, so they needed to make sure they had enough or the right sizes for big and small students. “The kids love it, because the rules are that they can’t wear it around the school – it has to go straight into their bags, ready for the event they’re representing at. It’s fantastic to be able to offer the use of a uniform to everyone from new entrants to Year 8s,” she says.
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