School Holidays Over But Willowbank Primary Has More Adventure To Come

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS OVER BUT WILLOWBANK PRIMARY HAS
MORE ADVENTURE TO COME

With children settling back into school mode, four lucky students from Willowbank Primary still have one more exciting adventure to look forward to as the winner of the Botany Town Centre Fit2Fly extreme adventure day out.

During the July school holidays, more than 1,500 children tested their skills on the specially built Fit2Fly adventure course in Botany Town Centre. Keeping kids active was the main aim of the course with participants running through tyres, sliding under cargo nets, balancing on low beams, navigating obstacles and shooting hoops.

The course also helped raise money for a great cause. Botany Town Centre set up the Fit2Fly course together with the Foundation for Youth Development (FYD) to raise funds and awareness of FYD’s Project K Programme. Children and teenagers paid $1 for a turn and went in the draw for a chance to win an extreme adventure day out. A total of $1574 was raised for Project K during the course of the two week holidays.

Willowbank Primary’s Jack Ashton is the lucky winner of the ultimate adventure day out, which was drawn randomly from over 1500 entries. Jack completed the course “about 20 times!” during the holidays to better his time – his best shot was 12 seconds. “I’m really looking forward to it. I got straight on Wikipages when I found out, to tell all of my classmates. I’m taking my friend Josh Ansell with me” Eleven year old Jack says.

He will be joined by two other lucky Willowbank Primary students as the school also had the largest percentage of entrants into Fit2Fly, which means they win two more places on the adventure day. The school will nominate two students to join Jack and his friend Josh.

They will be the envy of all their classmates when they get picked up from school in a chopper next Tuesday 4 August to complete a big adventure. The extreme adventure day will see the four flown in a helicopter from Ardmore Helicopters to Karamatura Valley in Huia, where they will take part in a series of adventurous activities such as mountain biking and an awesome Tree Top Obstacle Course, hosted by Bigfoot Adventures. Jack loves bike riding, “I go quite a bit, on long rides to playgrounds, but I’ve never been mountain biking”.

Botany Town Centre Manager Jennifer Manning said: “We’re thrilled to have been able to support such a worthy cause while encouraging kids to keep active these school holidays. We also welcomed some great celebrities down to give the course a go with Shortland Street’s Faye Smythe and Kiel McNaughton, players from the NZ Breakers Academy, The Steelers and Wynton Rufer, showing kids how it’s done.”

The top three participating schools also walked away with some Botany Town Centre voucher prizes for the highest percentage of entries. First prize ($2,000 of vouchers) went to Willowbank Primary, second prize ($1,000 of vouchers) went to Brookby Primary and third prize ($500 of vouchers) went to Our Lady Star of the Sea School.

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About Botany Town Centre
Situated approximately 19km southeast of Auckland, Botany Town Centre is one of New Zealand’s largest retail developments, with 169 specialty stores. Its retailers range from Dick Smith Electronics to Rebel Sports and a full complement of banks, fashion stores, and New Zealand’s most popular café and restaurant chains. The centre includes one of Auckland’s largest Farmers stores and a New World supermarket. The centre provides diverse entertainment choices from the Circle Lounge at Berkeley Cinema to the award-winning Cock and Bull pub. In addition to its retail offering, Botany Town Centre is a community hub for other services including the Botany Library, the Community Constable, and a variety of medical and health providers.

About Foundation For Youth Development’s Project K
Project K, founded in 1994 by New Zealanders Graeme Dingle and Jo-anne Wilkinson, is a Foundation for Youth Development programme designed to inspire 14-15-year-olds to maximise their full potential. The 14-month programme consists of three core components: a three-week Wilderness Adventure, a two-week Community Challenge and a year-long Mentoring relationship with a trained adult to help the student set and realise their goals. The unique Project K process was developed in consultation with leading educationalists and youth workers and is a catalyst for positive change. Students do not pay to take part in the programme.