Kaikohe Intermediate sweep the stage

Kaikohe Intermediate's kapa haka group, Te Herenga o Te Aroha, in action at a cultural festival in Kaikohe last year with co-leaders Piripi Gordon and Brooke Howard at the centre. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The children of a Far North school have come home buzzing from a national kapa haka competition after winning three titles - including the trophy for best choral group in the country.

Kaikohe Intermediate School's kapa haka group, Te Herenga o Te Aroha, won the top prize for waiata tira (choral), second prize for their costumes and third for the best kaitataki tane or male leader, Year 8 student Piripi Gordon.

More than 1850 children from 36 schools competed from November 4-7 at Te Mana Kuratahi National Primary and Intermediate Schools Kapa Haka 2013 at Tauranga's ASB Arena.

Kapa haka teacher Karena Tamehana said "months and months" of planning and practice were behind the group's success. The costume prize was especially rewarding for the parents, who had stayed up late many a night sewing costumes and preparing feathers and poi.

"It's wonderful. Everyone's on a high, floating on cloud nine," she said.

The 38 children in the group were treated to a day in Paihia on Friday. The school has yet to decide how to celebrate.

A public performance of the group's winning routine is also planned.

The children's parents were already talking about the next nationals in Palmerston North in 2015, Ms Tamehana said.

This time the group did not perform its signature song, Hareruia, a te reo version of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah. A video of the group singing Hareruia for Prime Minister John Key in Kaikohe earlier this year went viral after it was posted on the Advocate's Facebook page, attracting more than 85,000 views in its first week online.

The song was arranged by principal Joey Rogers with the te reo text penned by Ms Rogers' nephew and the head of Maori at Hato Petera College, Rev Te Hira Paenga.