Children off to work to pay for skiing

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 7, Issue 342, 3 July 1990, Page 3

Children off to work to pay for skiing

Ohakune Primary School pupils are looking for work so they can go skiing. The school runs a skiing programme each year where children spend six days on Ruapehu in ski lessons to introduce them to the sport and the mountain.

Turoa offers them a package deal of passes, lessons and transport for $24 per day which is a 50 per cent discount. Junction Ski Shop offers the children a special rate on ski hire for the programme also. Ski programme organiser Mrs Jude Hot-

ter said there are some children whose parents have difficulties finding the money for their children to take part in the programme, especially over the six days, so pupils are running cake stalls and selling hot soup and Milo at school to help

bring down the costs further. The children who take on jobs will mostly be working to pay for their own skiing but there are also some who have volunteered to work to help pay for their classmates' skiing. Skiing and spending

time in the Tongariro National Park is written into the Ohakune Primary School charter. "We have a mountain on our doors tep and we don't use it enough," said Mrs Hotter. "This is one opportunity for the children to take advantage of a resource that is special to the area." She said the programme is not free skiing, but is a learning experience. Apart from the ski lessons they learn about how to behave in the mountain environment, about safety on the ski field and about what a national park is. "School skiing is for everybody and most kids get a real kick out of it, but it's aimed mainly at the children who wouldn't normally get a chance to go up the mountain."

People with work available for children are

asked to contact the school, 58 384.