CAMBRIDGE NEWS | 1
THURSDAY DECEMBER 22, 2022
Celebrating Life - Your Way
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DECEMBER 22, 2022
Playing it safe
Person/s of the year: Karāpiro principal Tina-Maree Thatcher, chair Marilynn Jones and the whole school celebrate.
Photo: Roy Pilott.
The Cambridge News Person of the Year Award has, for the first time, not gone to a person. It’s gone to a school community. Mary Anne Gill explains. Karāpiro School might be small but there is no way the staff, parents and students are going to be pushed around by any government agencies. Day after day principal Tina-Maree Thatcher says she sees near accident misses on SH1 and Karāpiro Road. She records them on behalf of the community and shares them in regular reports. “I’m on that road every day and it’s
terrifying.” The turning point came four years ago when there was a fatality right outside the school and that prompted her, the school trustees and parents to step up their campaign. Greg Brown, 43, was killed when his ute and a truck and trailer unit collided head-on outside the school on SH1 at 4.25am. Thatcher had to close the school and tried her best to shield the tragedy from the
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children. “But every child knew why they weren’t at school that day.” Pictures from the scene were horrific. “We’ve got to protect our children from that,” she says. So began a campaign which has resulted in the school named the Cambridge News’ Person of the Year for its persistent advocacy which resulted in Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency putting in place a temporary speed docket books design • posters signs • business cards letterhead• labels newsletters • header cards • compliment slips • pull up banners raffle tickets • note pads • large format printing
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reduction, installing signage and embarking on a series of safety improvements. This follows Thatcher’s letter to Waka Kotahi in June saying, “we cannot wait any longer for our serious concerns to be addressed.” Thatcher said it was a real honour for the school to be named News Person of the Year particularly after the last few years which had been “crazy” for all schools.
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