Fairhaven group at zoo

• Author: Brenda Vowden
• Published date: 09 December 2020

Fairhaven teacher Miriam Crouch says her students were learning about the book Giraffes can’t dance, often asking for it to be read again, as well as watching the story on YouTube.

“One of my students kept asking for Gerald, tall giraffe, and one night I just thought how awesome it would be if they could actually see a giraffe.”

Miriam bit the bullet and approached The Thirsty Whale owners Chris and Kerri Sullivan, telling them she had a crazy idea. A meeting was arranged where she explained how her students all love animals and how many of them had never been on a plane before and what an experience this would be for them.

“I knew with Covid that businesses have suffered this year, but when Chris and Kerri heard my story they wanted to help and agreed straight away to sponsor the trip of five students (my whole class) and five adults to fly to Wellington, have a taxi transfer to the zoo, tickets to spend at the zoo, transfer back to airport and then fly back to Napier.”

Although Miriam knew this would be a rewarding experience for her students, the main challenge was getting it funded.

“Once Chris and Kerri agreed to fund the trip, I approached our principal, Diane Whyte, to get permission to go ahead. She believed it would be highly beneficial to these students, so the planning began.

“Chris and Kerri then got in touch with their travel agent, Frazer Best, who liaised with me and booked all the travel arrangements. Permission had to be sought from the caregiver of each student, and they were all very supportive.

“The children were amazing and because we had one-to-one ratios, had planned everything in detail and all the staff know our students really well, everything went smoothly.”

Students Ricky Rihari, Bella Hodgson, Toni Norrish, Shane Crawford, and Angus Carswell were accompanied by staff members...