Shocks idea wins Fair Go ad award

The Year 1 students at Douglas Park School who took the nationwide Fair Go Junior School Ad Award competition with a video about safekeeping socks

An innovative team of first year students at Douglas Park School has won the nationwide Fair Go Junior School Ad Award with a slick video about safekeeping your socks.

DPS teacher Charlotte Meo said the winning advert starred a Year 1 squad of 10 students who lead the viewer through a call and response script shot in their classroom, as they pick up a scattering of 'lost socks' while highlighting the benefits of their mash-up product called Shocks - shoes with built-in socks.

The DPS team was named as winners of the Junior School section - out of more than 400 entries in two age grades nationally - in the Fair Go show that aired on network television last night, winning a prize package that included a trophy, the latest model Canon camera, 10 ukuleles, a drum kit and $2000 for the school.

"The ad had to be 30 seconds long and had to be a mash-up (combination product). The hardest part was keeping in the time limit. The kids just went for it in the video - it was awesome - and they certainly gave it that cute factor," Ms Meo said.

"They all loved being in front of the camera and thought Shocks were a really good idea too. We're always on at them about 'whose are these socks, whose are these shoes?' at the end of the day."

Ms Meo had been a longtime fan of the Fair Go ad awards and was eager to enter the contest this year, her second at DPS, after watching the contest unfold in 2013.

"I thought last year what a cool experience it would be for the kids to enter but we never got around to doing it. This year we did, and we've won, so it's all very exciting."

Principal Dick Brown said the Fair Go Ad Award win spotlighted the "modern learning environment and the use of e-learning and language in the junior classes" at DPS, which has a roll of 412 students, while also underscoring the PRIDE incentive scheme that rewards independence and active creativity among students at the decile 4 Masterton school.

"It's good to see young kids achieving because they come through the system with even greater achievements and drive the school forward even more. It is a prime example of growing leadership of kids and doing that from the time they start as new entrants and that's where our PRIDE values come to the fore and are implemented in the classroom."

Mr Brown said another victory this term had been a successful assessment review by a national panel of the DPS EnviroSchool Green Gold Award, which "was amazing because it was the enviro team that generated that - they did the work".

"We sat back and the kids just went for it and came up with the concepts and the ideas, and that team is not just our senior kids but it comprises of our Year 1s right through to our Year 6s. They're getting that leadership opportunity and growing a strong voice in the school right from the word go."

A Fair Go film crew visited the school earlier this term to capture footage of the winning team for the show last night, Ms Meo said, which Year 1 classes were to view at the school today.