Steele gone

MYSTERY PARTS: Whangaparaoa Primary School students will miss their motivation mannequin Steele, after he was stolen and dismembered at a nearby park.

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Whangaparaoa Primary School is a man down.

Appropriately the mannequin's moniker is Steele, named after one of the teachers at the school who has been a driving force in the children's efforts to raise money for the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust.

He was taken from the school office on the evening of November 9.

"Some children saw a few youths looking into the office, and later saw them take Steele to the local park and dismember him," says Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust crew chief Herby Barnes.

"The school has recovered some parts but not all of him. These students have raised a lot of money individually. The kids are devastated that someone would do that," principal Steve Collins says.

Steele is part of a programme the trust runs in schools throughout Auckland.

The trust sends staff to schools to run a fitness programme based on the training programme that the rescue helicopter team train with. Students collect sponsors and complete fitness tests
on a specific day.

"They get certificates and the top eight children who get the most sponsorship get a ride to or from school in the helicopter," says Mr Barnes.

Two teachers also get to go for the ride.

"Westpac have come on board to help with prizes and encourage the kids," he says

The mannequin is a mascot that reminds students of the programme and is a motivation.

"We want to stress that although the mannequin had some of our safety PPE gear on it, including a helmet, body harness and lifejacket, all this gear was out of test date and decommissioned for operational purposes, so no one should even think about using the equipment as it will fail miserably."

Anyone with information contact the school on 424-9029 or Whangaparaoa police on 424-0413.

- © Fairfax NZ News