Okaihau Primary School, Northland, will soon be visited by the world's most famous milkman in his helicopter.
The school will be the first to be visited, on March 13, by former All Black captain Richie McCaw with a milk delivery as part of a high-flying promotion celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Fonterra Milk for Schools programme.
McCaw will arrive at four primary schools, piloting a chopper if it is possible to land it safely, to deliver the milk on different days. The whole journey is being captured by Milk News, a mocked-up television news programme presented by school-age "anchors" who interview McCaw on his progress (see video).
Okaihau Primary was chosen after it received over 130 nominations – amazing for a school with just 161 pupils. Mia Rumble, a seven-year-old Year 3 student there, was among those who asked for the visit, along with her two best friends, Leo Whittaker and Millar Sturge, who she says are McCaw's "absolute biggest fans".
Other schools have yet to be chosen and applications for McCaw to make a chopper visit don't close until March 19. Primary schools can be nominated at www.richiesmilkrun.co.nz.
In making his deliveries, the record-breaking All Black will move closer to another record: five years of delivering milk to 140,000 schoolkids in 1431 New Zealand schools – way up from the 119 who signed up when the programme took off in 2012.
With consumption running at about 20m servings every year (or over 1.6m a month), it is likely the 100m mark will be reached some time in May or June, according to Chris Ward, Fonterra's general manager of community programmes.
To form a better idea of the volume, think of an Olympic swimming pool – 50 metres long by 25m wide and 2m deep, containing about 2.5m litres of fluid.
Fill one of those pools with milk. Then fill 38 more – and you have close to the huge pool of milk delivered by Fonterra to schools since 2002.
"It's not a small assignment – and it's getting bigger," says Ward. "We love doing it because it is not just about giving kids a nutritional boost, it's also helping schools play a key role in shaping children's lifestyles, including their diets and attitudes towards nutrition."
There have been times in the past – and present – when kids arrive at school having not eaten breakfast or without lunch; milk's nutritional value is also useful then.
The principal of Auckland Point School in Nelson, Sonya Hockley, joined up her school after a visit to a Fonterra facility and had to decide when to put the children and the milk together: They opted for "Read and Feed" time – just before morning tea while the kids are reading, so that they're fuelled up when they go to play.
"They have their milk and it tops them up, helps them focus, gives them extra fuel when they go out to play. And then they're focused when they come in after morning tea," she says. "Children embrace it, they love it. It helps us, as educators, deliver a better quality understanding of what nutrition and health is, and what it looks like."
Delivering better understanding is one thing. As hundreds of kids at four schools will soon attest – getting Richie McCaw to deliver it is even better.