The six children are part of a group of 19 from Freeman's Bay Primary who pitched a project to the Waitemata Local Board to use funds earmarked for youth initiatives as part of being a Unicef Child Friendly City.
"We're on behalf of all the kids in the city," says Pablo Jonas, 10.
"It's not just for adults. When we grow up the city will be how the old adults wanted it, so we'll have to build it all again to how we want it."
Ms Judson had been prompted by suggestions from Auckland Council to use the school's Funky Friday project to pitch to the board ("we chose this over Minecraft," says Pablo).
The $1000 won, the children then had to brainstorm how they could make their voices heard.
It was tough to decide, but when the council's Joanna Wilkins explained how her department's Shape Auckland consultations work, they found how they could get involved.
"We really wanted a voice, because adults choose everything," says Jenny Lu, 11. Ms Wilkins, always keen to hear from people who don't usually speak up, was excited to include primary children, not the usual high school or tertiary students.
"It was a real refreshing change to get feedback from them, they gave real views," she found. "We're always keen to make something that can last, not just a one-time thing. So we're now doing other consultations that children have a view on."
Ms Wilkins brought on Kirsty Charles from Auckland Transport to give the children a real-time project to work on - consultation on the new bus network for the city.
As it happens, there was a specific piece of the network around the central city to Freemans Bay that needed local feedback. So the children set to work adapting the adult survey for their fellow kids.
"The stars aligned," says Ms Charles.
"These kids are in an urban environment, the city is their backyard, they use public transport. It struck me that they have the big picture, they're really clear about town planning and urban development."
The school is a snapshot of future Auckland: Ms Judson points out that around one in five of the school's 500 students live in apartments, there are children from 60 countries, many understand social justice and that to be a local-global citizen they should be involved in the democratic process. With their tight budget, the children briefed design professionals for their website and logo, wrote copy, refined the survey and even event- managed two launches - one with politicians, one with the school.
The website includes children's things to do, a bit of history and culture and is still growing.
"Sometimes as adults, you think you know best. But the kids have the ideas, they deserved to get it right. The teacher just has to step back and let the lesson happen," Ms Judson says.
Next year some of the children graduate to intermediate school.
In a decade, expect to see some of these names in youth law, human rights, urban design. Grumpy old people, step away.
