Tauranga Intermediate Thanks TECT for $300,000 Grant

Tauranga Intermediate School is the largest intermediate/primary school in New Zealand catering for 1,250 students.

The school is heavily involved in the annual N.Z. Community Trust AIMS GAMES Sports Tournament which hosts 3,750 competitors representing one hundred and one schools across fourteen codes.

Currently the school is without indoor training facilities but they’ve been hard at work raising money to complete a substantial indoor gymnasium/sports centre and international community centre, for which construction began in January.

Principal Brian Diver says “The facility will be truly impressive. The international centre will provide a meeting place for international students and their families as well as New Zealand resident international families. We’ll have a squash court, exercise room and three large community rooms for public use, each with its own kitchen.”

With the project nearing completion the school applied to TECT to assist with funding, specifically for the provision of landscaping, and furnishings and equipment for the exercise room, international centre, gymnasium and three community rooms. They were delighted to be granted $300,000.


Caption: Year 7 and 8 students in the main gymnasium.

“We’re very grateful for TECT’s $300,000 grant. It goes a huge way to helping us complete the project. We were very fortunate to receive a one-off grant from the Ministry of Education for just over a million dollars, and as a school we have ourselves raised $900,000 but it’s a big project and it takes a lot of money to create this sort of facility.”

Community organisations have been quick to show interest in the centre and already there have been commitments from groups including dancers, gymnasts, marching groups, after school programmes and of course a huge range of sports groups.

The project is due for completion on the 30th July 2010 and there will be a grand opening mid-November.

The emphasis of the Major Amenities Fund is to support projects that benefit the whole TECT area, or a significant part of it. TECT considers applications as and when they are received during the year with funding directed towards permanent new amenities or significant upgrades to existing amenities. A discount for TECT Consumers (if applicable) is part of the consideration of applications within this category.

The Weekend Sun is proud to profile the recipients of TECT funding and the contribution that both TECT and its consumers make to the community.

For further information about how to apply for funding from TECT phone 578-5095 or visit www.tect.org.nz