Oruaiti delivers the world

WARM RECEPTION: Ngaparani Matuku (left) and Alicia Jackson, experts on all thing Egyptian.

Oruaiti School didn't stage an end-of-year production this year. It went several steps better, with an extraordinary display entitled Around the World in 80 Minutes.

And it took all of 80 minutes to complete a lap of the gymnasium via a range of displays, each expertly presented by guides in appropriate dress and passably accented English.

The school had a secret weapon in parent Mark Jackson, whose day job with International SOS (providing medical solutions for the oil and gas industries) takes him around the world (most recently the Russian Arctic Circle), and who gifted the Year 8 children contacts, not to mention enthusiasm, that most schools could barely dream of.

The youngsters themselves did a wonderful job of pulling it all together to the point where they could talk knowledgeably about the countries they represented before stamping visitors' passports and ushering them to the next destination.

Work on the project began in the July holidays, the loudest component being chainsawing blocks of polystyrene in Neil Foster's barn to create the likes of Big Ben and the Arc de Triomphe (with offcuts being turned into rocks for the Indian camp site that was a feature of the North American corner).

The front pages of newspapers contributed by Mr Jackson's contacts, genuine garments, all manner of objects and information and a well briefed team of guides contributed to a display that entranced parents and school parties from Mangonui, Taipa, Peria and Totara North.

Many of the visitors added to the children's store of knowledge about their particular locations, one even stating the number of rivets that went into the Eiffel Tower.

Daniel Bunn and Sheree Lange were the first guides to greet visitors, representing Great Britain, followed by Phoebe Rogers and Tryneece Tomars (France), Campbell Tatham and Rose Foster (Italy), Ngaparani Makutu and Alicia Jackson (whose Egyptian collection included a mummy referred to by Alicia as Uncle Bob), Mollie Te Brake and Emily Smith (India, who could confidently state the country's cricket team's win/loss record), Katelyn Franklin and Zara Foster (Asia), Leela Brown and Eli Lockie (the USA).

The only shame was that, like many a school production, a huge amount of work, research and imagination had such as short shelf life, but the school will long remember the inspiration it took from Jules Verne, and so will those who saw what they did with it.