Children at tiny school work on big project
Ngamatapouri School is a long way up the North Island’s longest no-exit road and beside a river that regularly floods, but the kids who go there are using science and technology to keep safe.
Using a drone equipped with a camera, computer technology and practical science skills, the 11 students are developing an early warning system for the next time the Waitotara River floods, and they have recently won an award for their innovation.
The little school, 43km northeast of SH3 at Waitotara, is one of Taranaki’s most isolated. There’s no cellphone coverage and storms regularly bring trees down across the windy Waitotara Valley Rd.
But flooding is the main hazard, and some of the older students can remember those that closed the school in 2015.
‘‘We were talking about how we could be safe at the school if it happened again, how would we have known if we didn’t get a call coming through from the council,’’ principal Heather Dallas said.
The discussion led to an innovative project with $20,000 in funding from the Curious Minds citizen science project and help from a raft of experts.
The students have spent the past few months learning to operate a drone for regular surveys of the river, as well as how to collect water samples and other data.
‘‘We had to find out what the normal patterns are for the river if we want to be able to predict when it will flood,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s getting the kids to think like scientists, to be able to predict from past patterns, use all these scientific methods.’’
The team takes the drone out once a week to fly a preprogrammed path, if the weather is suitable.
‘‘We can’t fly it in the rain or wind; it just comes back if it is too windy,’’ Tyler Rumble said.
They are on their second drone, after the first one crashed into a tree.
Takutaimoana Kauika-Tenison remembers seeing the flood waters in 2015 very close to her home.
She works in two of the teams, flying the drone and also sampling the water. Younger students take regular air temperature and soil moisture readings.
‘‘We’ve learnt a lot of things, such as how to collect the samples, how to check the water clarity,’’ she said.
‘‘We have found some cool-as bugs in there. It means it is healthy, keeping the bugs alive,’’ Azariah Vakuruivalu said.
With development work now starting on the flood warning system and various other ideas for further study, the project will carry on to next year.
The school won a 2019 Environmental Award from the Taranaki Regional Council for using innovative technology to understand the local environment and to inform their community.