You shall go to the ball: students find a fairy godmother

A GROUP of Wainuiomata High School students who were told at the last minute that they could not attend their school formal may have found their fairy godmother.

Twenty recently arrived foreign exchange students were told on Thursday they could not go to the formal in the Oceania Room at Te Papa tonight because the school had sold too many tickets.

However, after several parents complained, acting principal Janette Melrose intervened to make sure everyone who had bought a ticket was able to attend.

She contacted Te Papa and asked if it could add extra seating. Thankfully, it was not a problem, Melrose said.

So what started as a formal for 150 quickly turned into one for 180.

One parent who is hosting a 17-yearold Japanese student contacted The Dominion Post on Thursday to say she had just been told that overseas students were to be excluded, having bought their $100 tickets, and arranged dresses and transport.

‘‘How do I tell a 17-year-old that the formal she has been looking forward to since April, she can no longer go?

‘‘She is currently in her bedroom in tears. Why did they not say at the beginning that the foreign students were excluded – why wait until a day and a half before the formal to tell them?’’

The student’s ball partner, who was not an overseas student, was suddenly left to go alone, the parent said.

‘‘He is also in tears that she cannot go. [The Japanese student] will now have to watch as [the parent’s own daughter] gets ready and goes to the ball, while Cinderella has to stay at home. ‘‘Who will be her fairy godmother?’’ Melrose said the call to exclude the overseas students should never have been made, as nothing had officially been decided.

‘‘It was an internal miscommunication with one of the teachers.

‘‘Everybody is going to the ball.’’