They partnered with Dragonfly Media to create a music video after receiving a grant from the Ministry of Education Creatives in Schools programme.
The school hosted a screening of the video, Our Taonga by the Sea at Hampden Hall earlier this month.
Waitaki District mayor Gary Kircher was there, as well as Ministry of Education representative Rachelle Haslegrave and members of the Hampden community.
Hampden School principal Matt Hannagan was extremely happy with how it all came together.
"It has been an exhausting, stressful and busy process, but the result was so much more than I ever anticipated. The smiles and feedback of the community says it all.
"The kids feel empowered, valued and were so engaged in the learning process so I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome."
His pupils felt like stars.
"The students are absolutely stoked with what they have produced. Not one negative comment. They feel a sense of pride in themselves and their tūrangawaewae; the place they stand."
The feedback from the local community had been "overwhelmingly awesome", he said.
Mr Hannagan was first approached in 2022 by Dragonfly Media development manager Rob Greaney to partner on a school project.
After their first application to Creatives in Schools was rejected, they tried again in 2023 and were accepted.
They got to work at the start of the school year to create the video.
Mr Greaney and Mr Hannagan allowed the pupils to control most of the creative process.
They investigated what made their town special and from there, Mr Greaney turned their ideas into the lyrics.
"From there, there were several processes that took place. Finding the beat and melody that matched the children’s interests, story boarding of locations, recording of vocals, filming and then the final editing phase," Mr Hannagan said.
The goal was for the pupils to create something that made them proud of where they lived and also learn new skills from Mr Greaney.
Mr Hannagan was open to applying to the fund again and creating something similar in the future.
