Holy Family Catholic School year 4 students Victor Tessier and Ollie Crosbie built a wooden "horseradish board" following a self-driven project in their Ignition class.
A horseradish board is suspended by ropes in a system designed to mimic the sensation of a surfboard in water.
It can be used in many settings, from easy to more challenging and requiring more balancing skills.
Victor and Ollie had never surfed ocean waves before starting their school holiday project.
They researched surfboards during Genius Hour in their Ignition class and visited Ross McCarthy at YourWave at Hāwea Flat before settling on the design.
With the help of Victor’s dad Bastien Tessier, they approached Breen Construction who agreed to donate all the materials, including macrocarpa.
“We started off using cardboard and chairs, then we used a Swiss ball and then we researched and found a board called the Horseradish Board,” the boys wrote in a letter to their teacher.
Breen Wānaka area manager Ross McCulloch was "all in".
"I love this kind of thing — getting kids into using tools and materials to make creations that have a finished product they can use was a highlight of this project.”
Victor and Ollie said their surfboard would be good to use when taking "brain breaks" and should be set close — "but not too close" — to the school sandpit.
Holy Family acting principal Ange Scoullar said the Ignition programme was a weekly learning extension class for like-minded year 4-8 students.
"It’s been a great learning opportunity from start to finish and the board has been well received by the students,” she said.
