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From issue: February 2000

Kids’ Power in Kerikeri

by Alison Bartley

The heading to this article is way out of line! They may be "kids" by age, but a group of ten- and eleven-year-old Kerikeri school children are helping achieve an adult solution to an adult problem. Looking after historic buildings is never easy. At Kerikeri the Historic Places Trust faces two particular problems in preserving the Stone Store and Kemp House. For years, a busy road has descended the hill to the Kerikeri Basin to turn at right angles round one corner of the Stone Store and then cross the Kerikeri River.

The Stone Store and Kemp House, Kerikeri, looking across the road which is causing so many problems. Photo: Don Donovan

Heavy traffic on the road shakes the two buildings, especially the Stone Store. And the bridge becomes virtually a dam when debris builds up against it, gravely increasing the risk of flooding to the two historic buildings.

The problem has long been recognised. A preferred option for a by-pass road was identified as long ago as 1986. By taking the road across the river higher up, the by-pass would solve the two problems created by the present road. But for one reason or another (disagreement over who should pay and which was the best option) the by-pass has not been built.

The Kerikeri Primary School's community problem solving team, after they had won the right to represent New Zealand at the international finals in the United States. From left: Chloe Phillips-Harris, Elizabeth Richards, Niki Harrison, David Jenkin, David Middlemiss, Shasa Bolton. Photo: Debbie Green

Enter, in 1999, the Kerikeri Primary School's junior community problem solving team. The problem the team chose to address was the protection and promotion of the Stone Store. The programme requires teams taking part to identify a local problem, come up with a solution, then follow a plan of action. As part of their work, the team, which called itself the Triple S team - the Stone Store Savers - monitored traffic passing the buildings. They constructed a diorama of how the area would look if the by-pass were built and the area transformed into an historic park and composed a song about the buildings which they taught to the 600 pupils of their school. They wrote to local members of Parliament and made a convincing presentation to the Far North District Council, which so impressed the councillors they are keen to send the team to Wellington to press the case for the by-pass with the Government and Transfund. It is just possible that the young people's energy and commitment may galvanise the adults to construct the long overdue by-pass.

In November the team competed in Auckland and "blew the adjudicators away" with the depth of their knowledge, winning a place in the international finals of the problem-solving programme to be held in the United States in June 2000.