School pupils’ patience rewarded with play
FOR primary school pupils, four months is a pretty long time to ‘‘just be patient’’.
Since October last year, pupils at Dunedin’s St Joseph’s Cathedral School have been able to look out their classroom windows and see a brand new $90,000 playground taking shape.
But until yesterday, all they could do was look at it.
Principal Jo Stanley said it was supposed to be completed in October last year, but there had been significant delays because of Covid19.
‘‘It was a pretty good lesson in patience.
‘‘Our playground was a major school community project that took 18 months of planning and fundraising, and should have been completed at the start of term 4 last year.
‘‘Unfortunately, we had big holdups with the making of the playground equipment and then the major shipping delays.
‘‘We had the official opening of the playground on the last day of school. We cut the ribbon, but the kids weren’t allowed to play on it because it still wasn’t finished by then.
‘‘They didn’t even get to play on it once before school ended last year.’’
That was why St Joseph’s Cathedral School pupils were among the most excited in the city to be returning to school yesterday, she said.
‘‘They were not just bursting to see their friends again and the normal things that children look forward to after the summer holidays. They were also, at long last, able to play on the new playground that they did not get to play on last year.
‘‘It has been a really positive start to the year after a previous year of cancellations and delays.’’
As soon as the pupils came in the school gate, there were queues to get on the equipment, she said.