The five-year-old boy killed while playing near a stack of logs on the grounds of a Motueka school last night was Glen Eric Takaro Temiha-Barlow.
The local boy had been visiting family friends in McGlashen St and went to play in the grounds of nearby Motueka High when the incident happened about 5.45pm.
A group of children were playing on top of the log pile, stacked three to four logs high, when one became dislodged, said Acting Senior Sergeant Rob Crawford.
"They were playing on top of the logs and jumping up and down on them and we think their actions have caused the log to become loose and roll off the stack,'' Mr Crawford told Radio New Zealand.
Police and grieving family members were with Glen's body last night.
The family was being supported by Victim Support and members of the local marae and iwi, he said.
The logs were cut on Wednesday night from decaying poplar trees on the grounds and had been stacked for removal today.
The pile was not fenced off at the time of the boy's death.
A boundary has since been put in place and the logs were being removed this morning, said Mr Crawford
"It's traumatic for everybody involved - the family, the school and the contractors that dealt with that.''
Nelson Tree Service manager Richard Walsh said it was safest to place cut logs side-by-side rather than stacked if they were not being immediately removed from a site.
"Leaving the logs stacked one on top of the other isn't the best practice. In a school I'd definitely not stack them up. We'd use danger tape and leave signage up so people knew what's going on,'' he said.
He was aware of another accident where a log had rolled, injuring a person's foot.
"I can definitely see how it could happen,'' he said about last night's tragedy.
Motueka High board of trustees chairman Ian Palmer described the incident as "deeply sad''.
The school was supporting the family and would be attending the boy's tangi, which will be held at a local marae, he said.
A crisis management plan was being followed at the school.
Police and The Department of Labour are investigating.
