Far North students best problem solvers

Kaitaia's Flood Fighters. Back row: Flynn Cribb, Veronica Turner, Matt Riley. Mid: Jessica Matthews, Floyd Cribb. Front: Beaudene Thompson, Whitney Peat.

An "amazing bunch" of Far North students has won the junior section of the Community Problem Solving Championships in the United States, and another local school has placed second in its section.

Kaitaia Primary School assistant principal Cherie Duncan said the school's team beat 15 teams of from the United States, Canada, Korea and Australia to win the problem-solving crown for students aged 9-11.

"They are an amazing bunch of children. We are all just so stoked for them and so proud of them," Ms Duncan said. It is the first time the 300-pupil school has entered the competition.

Nearby Ahipara Primary School's eight-member team, with mentor-coach Andrea Panther, came second in the intermediate section at the same championship.

The two schools, which had qualified for the competition by winning New Zealand titles, raised nearly $80,000 to send their teams to the United States.

Each team had to present their projects in Lexington, Kentucky, then undergo interviews and questioning by judges (without coaches), before explaining in public the projects at their respective schools.

Kaitaia Primary teacher-coach Veronica Turner's six junior problem solvers, known as the Flood-Fighters, worked to minimise flooding in low-lying areas within the split-level school site.

The group came up with three solutions.

One, a nursery, was used to grow flax and coprosma for planting on banks and slopes leading to the junior school area after the children learned vegetation helped hold unstable earth in place.

Solution two called for installation of wooden playground surrounds, paid for by the school, to stop play area bark washing into stormwater drains and causing blockages.

The team then produced their own Flood-Fighters brochure, saying what they were doing and why, and giving tips on reducing flooding in streams and rivers in the local flood-prone Awanui River catchment area.

At Ahipara Primary School, the team under coaches Andrea Panther and Charity Hohepa sought advice from local people on cleaning up the badly polluted Wairoa Stream which runs behind the school before starting a local landcare group and then planting trees and shrubs for 150m along one side.

The waterway was then fenced off to stop cattle entering the stream and the group met Far North District Council representatives to discuss what could be done to stop discharge from nearby septic tanks.

A $120,000 ratepayer-funded job followed to divert a stream feeding into the Wairoa Stream around the Ahipara landfill.

A $2000 award paid for fencing and planting while $5500 from the Northland Regional Council was used to set up a website, produce a brochure and buy more plants.

The student-inspired landcare group meets monthly and includes team members, regional council, environment group, community and school representatives.

The Kaitaia team: Whitney Peat, 11, Jessica Matthews, 11, brothers Floyd Cribb, 10, and Flynn Cribb, 9, Matt Riley, 10, and Bodine Thompson, 11.

The Ahipara team: Nikita Williams, 13, twins Chloe and Derryn Manga, 11, Hannah Kiley, 12, Brydie Colquhoun, 12, Aimee Irving-Pene, 12, Darryl Smith, 14, and Danielle Morrogh 13.

The students are due back from Lexington, where the championships were held, next Tuesday.