Rock our Future school competition

The Brief: To demonstrate the lifecycle of a quarry, including what to do with the land at the rehabilitation stage of the lifecycle – bonus points were for sustainable rehabilitation ideas. Students had the option to present their ideas through a digital presentation, video, poster, a model, essay or written report.

Lifecycle of a quarry:

• Identify where the rock and/or sand is and test it is suitable, environmental and cultural studies conducted
• Consent and approval for operations – get permission from the council to extract the material
• Opening the pit in stages, putting in place environmental and safety measures
• Site is active, extraction of quarried material happens in stages
• Rehabilitate the site for future long-term use

Criteria
The project had to include:

• The lifecycle of a quarry
• Demonstrate basic understanding of what quarrying is and why it’s important in New Zealand
• Submission types (choose one):
  • • A 2–3 minute video or animation
    • A digital slideshow (e.g. PowerPoint, Google Slides)
    • A written report (max 500 words)
    • A poster or infographic (digital / scanned / posted)
    • A model with an explanation (photos and a short write-up)

THE WINNERS

Schools from Auckland to Queenstown were among the winners in the AQA’s Rock our Future school competition for years 5-8 in 2025. The winners from Karāpiro School were, Levi Hughes, Eli Johnson and Aria MacCallaugh with their movie, and Ronya Epp and Alice Daly with their video and model.

The Year 7 winners were Summer Clarke, Alice Foggiato Pacheco and Maiya Hansen from KingsView School with their presentation.

Year 8 winners were Sienna Dinsdale and Pixie Lovegrove from Waiuku School with their presentation.

The Brief: This year’s brief was for each student to write a poem exploring aggregate in New Zealand highlighting benefits, an explanation of what it is, and what it’s used for.

The poem had to include the following:

Where does aggregate come from
What is aggregate
Why we need aggregate in everyday life

THE WINNERS

Schools from Wellington to Christchurch were among the winners in the AQA’s Rock our Future school competition for years 5-8 in 2024. The Year 5 winner was Louis Goodman from North East Valley Normal School, Dunedin, and the Year 6 winner was Emily Williams from Boultcott School, Lower Hutt, Wellington.

The Year 7 winner was Chester Densem and Year 8 winner was Elenor Eleanor from North Loburn School in Loburn.

The Brief: This year’s brief was for students to show three everyday uses of aggregate along with an explanation. They were encouraged to visit a local quarry and design a poster.

THE WINNERS

Schools from Northland to Otago were among the winners in the AQA’s Rock our Future school competition for years 5-8 in 2023. The Year 5 winner was Odin Apiata (left) from Ohaeawai Primary School, Northland, and the Year 6 winner was Ally Aikten (right) from Mornington School, Dunedin.

The Year 7 winner was Ana Kaufana from Oamaru Intermediate, and pictured below the Year 8 winner was Anika Beren from Springbank School in Northland.

Read all about their entries here.

The Brief: Students were encouraged to visit a local quarry and design a poster of an activity at the quarry, why the quarry is needed, and the benefits the quarry provides to the community.

THE WINNERS

Year 5 & 6 winners below from Owairoa Primary School, Auckland

Year 7 & 8 winners below from Lee Stream School, Otago:

Read all about their entries here.

The brief was: Students were encouraged to visit a local quarry and write an essay of no more than 500 words describing their experience at the quarry and what they learnt during the visit.

THE WINNERS

Year 5 & 6 winners were from Puni School, Auckland, and a Year 8 winner from Oamaru Intermediate. There were no Year 7 entries this year.

Read all about their entries here.

Students were to design a final use for a quarry that has finished extracting rock.

The brief was: You have been hired by a quarrying company called Big Rock Solutions. The company has completed extracting rock from its quarry and now wants to turn the quarry into an asset for the community. They want the land to be useful, and whatever it is turned into to be sustainable, environmentally sensitive and add value to the local community. Neighbours and others in the community need to be considered in whatever final use is designed for the site.

THE WINNERS

Two schools from the Waikato and Manawatū took away the prizes.

Read all about their entries here.

The brief was: students had been hired by a quarrying company currently exploring the problem of what to do when energy produced by diesel and coal (both non-sustainable energy sources) runs out. The students were to design a solution for the production of aggregate, including crushing plant, and mobile vehicles such as loaders, excavators etc. for the 21st Century.

THE WINNERS

Two groups of boys from Fitzroy School in New Plymouth have taken out the prizes and were awarded by CEO Wayne Scott and MP Jonathan Young on Friday Oct 25th.

Read all about their entries here.