TV star recalls a patient teacher

My favourite educator: Television presenter Drew Neemia talks to Diana Clement being hyperactive at Paraparaumu School.

When TV presenter Drew Neemia returned to Papaparaumu School last year he was disappointed but not surprised to find the monkey bars had gone. As a child, he’d spent hours trying to perfect the monkey bar 360° – falling every single time on his back. “They were dangerous,“ says Drew, now a more sensible 25 years old.
These days he presents Drew & Shannon Live alongside Shannon Ryan each weekday on C4. Of school, he remembers more about some of his playground activities than the actual learning.
When he wasn’t trying to get himself sent to accident and emergency on the monkey bars, he was on the field playing soccer or taking school-based tennis lessons.
The other disappointment of Drew‘s 2010 visit to Paraparaumu School was to find that a number of huge pine trees on the school’s perimeter were gone. “The school was surrounded by massive pine trees. I think they chopped them down because [children] used to throw pine cones at each other.“ Drew initially denies he’d been one of them. “Not me. I was an angel,“ he laughs. “Well, maybe once.“

Different ways to learn
His favourite teacher at Paraparumu School was Laura Murden (now Snowden), who after all these years is still at the school - as principal. “She was the most memorable teacher throughout primary school. Some teachers don’t get through to you, but she was very patient with everyone. She understood that everyone has a different way of learning.“ Murden was especially helpful with maths, a subject Drew struggled with.
Drew wasn’t a perfect student by any means and admits to been hyperactive at school. But he soon learned a good life skill – the charm needed to be naughty, but to get away with it. “I knew how to get away with things without getting into trouble.“
In reality he loved primary school more than most children. “A lot of kids hated going to school, but I would always wake up and look forward to going there. Every day.“

Bullied
Drew was on TV from the age of three and the publicity did bring on the ire of some children who tried to bully him. “Because I was doing TV there were kids who got their noses out of joint. I was really lucky to have the support of my parents, sister and older brothers. I would talk to them and I realised I didn’t need to care about [the bullying]. “
Communication is really important in Drew’s career in television, and his eight years at Paraparaumu School were really beneficial on that front. Among other things the speech training he received at the school was extremely helpful.
“Even though I was performing when I was little I would get nervous when I was talking in front of a crowd. I was okay singing. But between songs I was very shy.
“[The teachers] taught you how to structure a speech, how to deliver it, and how to try and get rid of the nerves. You learned if you make a mistake it was not the end of the world. Just carry on and give it your best shot.
“Standing in front of everyone was a good grounding. Now I am standng in front of the country doing a live TV show.“