Parents & Friends of Dio

PARENTS & FRIENDS

It will be spectacular. It might be a little bit tricky. It is sure to be glamourous. Most of all, it will be…BIG. It is the Dio Big Night Out – Saturday 7 September at the Dawn Jones Sports Centre. Prepare for a fantastic night of fun, quizzing, auctions, prizes, delicious food, dancing, entertainment and more.

Doors open from 6pm with delicious nibbles from Baduzzi, Stumpy’s Pizza and Double Dutch Fries, to name a few. The bars will be open, the music playing, and we can’t wait to see your costumes as you tackle the theme ‘Be more than you ever imagined’. Have you ever imagined you were an astronaut, a circus performer, a princess, Batman or Elvis Presley? Dust off that costume now. Theme your team, maybe your regiment of Star Wars stormtroopers will thrash that stuck-in-the-’70s Star Trek crew. There will be prizes for the bestthemed team. Whether it’s the Marvel superheroes that inspire you or The Village People, now is the time to go wild and be ‘more than you ever imagined’.

Tickets are $45 per person and are on sale now at iTicket. www.iticket.co.nz

We hope you can join us on the night. But if you can’t, you still have an opportunity to bid on some of the amazing prizes online at our Silent Auction. Visit www.galabid.com/diobid from Friday 30 August. Register via your phone, computer or tablet by following the instructions on the website, then you can start bidding.

We have some wonderful auction prizes, including travel courtesy of House of Travel Parnell, magnums of Moët Champagne, dining experiences from Baduzzi, unique Dio Sport coaching experiences, getaways at exclusive luxury baches, wine from Craggy Range, luxury gift hampers, and much, much more. major landscaping redevelopment is a significant project in the area formerly occupied by the iconic Norfolk pines. It will provide extended room for outdoor learning, music and recreation, including innovative play spaces, together with modern playground equipment.

Our next event is going to be big… unlike our last event, which definitely included some of the smallest guests ever.

At our annual Father/Daughter Breakfast on 19 May we were delighted to host Ruud Kleinpaste, aka The Bugman, who brought along some of his tiny friends. Ruud let Dot the weta crawl all over his head and face while he spoke, and even popped her into his mouth, eliciting some delighted gasps and squeals from the girls. Principal Heather McRae also provided a great climbing frame for this inquisitive weta.

Despite the hilarious antics of Ruud’s ‘friends’, his message to us and the world was a serious one. Ruud explained to the breakfast attendees that all insect life on our planet is under threat and without insects the whole life chain of the planet could collapse.

The event’s theme was one of sustainability and giving back, and our breakfasts were provided by Eat My Lunch (EML). For every breakfast served, a lunch was donated to a lowdecile school in Auckland. EML have a lengthy waiting list of schools and students, and we were very happy to partner with this worthy charity. In keeping with the theme and to reduce our environmental footprint, we used reusable or recyclable cups, boxes and utensils on the morning.

Father Daughter Breakfast guest speaker Ruud Kleinpaste

Would you like to get involved with Parents & Friends? We are actively recruiting for new committee members, as well as volunteers keen to lend a hand. If you enjoy events, and love meeting people and getting involved with the School, we are just the community group for you. You never know what you might be doing on P&F – from hosting a barbecue for 150 new students and parents, to taking a tour of the new Arts Centre construction site, or rounding up red-backed spiders and wetas for The Bugman, there’s never a dull moment. We meet once a month on a Monday evening at 7pm. For more information, please contact Robin Bell at robinbell99@me.com