The article below appeared on the Nayland College website this morning, April 1. We would like to assure the community that the article was an April Fools hoax. The idea of the article was to highlight all of the amazing opportunities available at Nayland College and how hard our students are fundraising towards the activities they are passionate about. If you would like to assist these groups in any way please contact the school at xtend@nayland.school.nz Happy Easter!

Nayland College plane purchase takes school travel to a new level. The 68 seat French built ATR 72-500 plane has been purchased by Nayland College from Virgin Airlines, who have been storing five planes at Nelson Airport whilst awaiting sale.

Nayland College principal Daniel Wilson says the purchase of the aircraft “just makes sense". "With so many school classes, groups and teams becoming successful in a vast range of academic, arts and sports pursuits, the purchase of the aircraft will reduce the pressure on students who are currently having to endure long bus journeys and expensive commercial airline fares to reach their destinations," he explained.

Currently several Nayland groups are planning long distance travel including sports teams moving across the country to various tournaments, a group of 50 music students travelling to the Victorian Music Festival in Melbourne, and a group of 15 business and language students heading off to Hong Kong and China.

Alongside providing transport, the aircraft will also perform an important role in the school curriculum. Although pilots will be contracted to fly the aircraft, students will be involved in learning and assisting with engineering and servicing of the plane, providing hospitality and safety services inflight, ground services such as packing and fuelling the plane, and looking after the complicated management schedules that are involved with running a large aircraft.

When not in use the plane will be stored at Nelson Airport, though the school is looking at chartering the aircraft to produce additional income. Mr. Wilson was coy when pressed on the cost and associated outgoings of owning the plane. "Although the financial implications are significant, we are confident that with regular sausage sizzles and bake sales we can minimise the obvious impact this purchase will have on our ability to purchase core classroom resources."