GREAT NEWS!



Thank you so much to every single person who has helped our students achieve their dreams. The Dream Team have worked hard and reached the $40,000.00 mark. Our heart felt thanks to everyone who pitched in and supported us to achieve our dream. We fly out April 2nd, 2011, when the dream will become a reality. WOW! Amazing things do happen. 

We have not quite reached our goal and will be continuing to fund-raise until we leave. So please, if you haven't already, buy a cook book for someone special for Christmas, hire a student to do a painting for you, or buy one of their completed works.

Many thanks to everyone involved,
Lisa Purda
HOD Visual Arts

Some of our students artworks are below:


Alyse Jensen


Rosie Laing


Sam Keall


Braden Davenport


Fiona Stokes


Gabrielle Mudford


Lysanah Giles


Lysanah Giles


Rennie de Jong


Richard Mudford

Sometimes in life we are given the opportunity to get away from our every day circumstances and have the time to reflect. To be given such an opportunity at an early age is a wonderful gift. To be given the opportunity to explore who you are, what you want to do with your life, and more importantly, to consider if the path you are on will get you there, is a valuable tool to our teens.



Sometimes it takes a HUGE event like this to challenge students to reach inside and really get up close and personal with the world around them - to see what is out there. This trip is about stepping outside ones comfort zone and experiencing the wide world. Looking outside Pahiatua, the North Island and New Zealand. It's about looking beyond themselves.



Why Italy?

Because it brings some of the things we read about in books to life! Students can experience their learning first hand and apply it to real life situations. How powerful is that?

Italy is the hub of historical and contemporary arts. Italy has wonderful resources such as the Uffizi Gallery in Florence where Leonardo de Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo's original paintings hang on large walls in stunning beauty. The Sistine Chapel in Rome offers frescos by Botticelli and Michelangelo and stunning architecture. Verona offers the historic home of Romeo and Juliet that gives Shakespeare a whole new dimension, not to mention Venice, Milan, and who could forget Pisa.







Why Dubai?

Dubai is the perfect place to stop over and break the long flight and travel time of 40-something hours with an overnight stay. An overnight stop over allows plenty of time for a Red Bus Tour of Dubai where students will see another part of the world that is very different from what they know.

I believe students can get enough of English and American culture on the telly. Asian culture is also more common these days in New Zealand; but to come face to face with Arabs, in the desert, in traditional dress, and be able to watch them go and pray to Allah 5 times a day in the mosques, is truly something out of this world.

Dubai itself is thriving metropolis bringing together an age-old culture with modern technology and architecture, stunning jewelery with all the gold and silver that is traded, religious police and spice trade boats in the harbour. Dubai offers a very different culture.









We hope to select 15 students to join the 'Dream Team' and embark on a two year fundraising and art skills extension mentoring programme.



The Mentoring Programme will see students who are invited and or selected for the programme spending group time with the other students and teachers/adults on the trip. Parents will be encouraged to come along and support their students in fundraising events and wherever practical.
We are very excited to be able to offer such a programme and trip at Tararua College.

The Dream Team will plan for the trip and maybe pick up some extra credits through learning about the countries we will visit. Students on the Tour will be expected to keep daily drawing journals and collect images for a series of final art works upon their return. This will help them to express what they have learned and experienced, and will provide the community with something tangible that can be shared.



Applications were sought from Gifted and or Talented Art students in Year 10, 11 and 12. Applications closed Friday 27th of March, 2009. The applications were read and considered on individual merit by a selection panel. Successful students have been notified.
Good luck to all..... and watch this space!

We will be travelling in April 2011 but as we progress on our adventure we would like to share updates with you.

Lisa Purda
HOD Art
Tararua College
Pahiatua












Thank you Arena Manawatu for supporting us! - Cleaning up after a Turbo's game is great fun when you have a goal in your mind!