'Fruit on the ceiling': School students take over Parliament

Students from Waipukurau school during their visit to Parliament in April 2026.

Photo: VNP/Louis Collins

On any given sitting day, the Parliamentary precinct hums with activity, teeming with MPs, journalists, staffers, and officials. Also weaving their way through the hallways of democracy are school students.

For decades, Parliament has welcomed students from primary, intermediate, secondary, and tertiary institutions, offering educational visits tailored to what students are learning about or are simply curious to discover.

These visits provide an opportunity to step beyond whiteboards and textbooks and experience the Parliamentary process firsthand.

For most school-aged groups, the visit begins in Parliament's Education Centre, a scaled-down replica of the debating chamber tucked away on the ground floor of the Beehive.

It is here that students get their first glimpse into how it all works, although they often prove to already have a pretty good idea.

Photo: VNP/Louis Collins

Last month, Waipukurau School was down in Wellington as part of its annual camp, which teacher Vanessa O'Keefe said always includes a visit to Parliament. They were kind enough to let The House tag along.

Parliament educator Adelaide Taylor began by introducing the Parliamentary precinct and explaining the role of its various buildings and institutions.

It was clear this group had done its homework, or at least revised on the bus ride down from Hawke's Bay.

Their familiarity with the place is mostly from seeing it on the news or social media, which provides a fitting segue to the next stop on the tour: Parliament's theatrette, where the prime minister holds post-Cabinet press conferences.

For many New Zealanders, the room has been immortalised in the public consciousness through the daily Covid-19 briefings - one of the most recognisable settings in Parliament.

While there, students take part in a mock post-Cabinet press conference. Two volunteers, Sam and Harry, step up to the lecterns with New Zealand flags draped behind them and, for the next five minutes, assume the roles of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Waipukurau School, at least.

Their classmates, meanwhile, take on the role of journalists representing their school community.

Sam role plays as the Prime Minister and takes tough questions from his fellow students

Photo: VNP/Louis Collins

Before the exercise begins, Sam reflects on what makes a good prime minister.

He said you have to be serious for a role like this, but "you've gotta have a bit of humour…. Everybody wants a funny Prime Minister."

Sam and his deputy Harry navigate a barrage of questions from the floor, including, "Why does our school got so much concrete?" and "Why do the little kids keep biting the big kids?"

When confronted with the more challenging query of why recent Star Wars films had declined in quality, Harry employed a classic political avoidance technique: "No comment."

Coming through the pretend press conference more or less unscathed, the students head upstairs to Parliament's debating chamber.

Standing beneath the ornate ceiling, they listen as Taylor explains the layout of the room, who sits where, and the role of the Speaker as "Parliament's referee".

Yet the chamber's architecture proves to be more fascinating than its political function, with students understandably distracted by aesthetically striking features such as the false windows and decorative fruit adorning the ceiling.

Taylor explains that fruit historically symbolised wealth, particularly exotic fruit such as pineapples.

Students ask questions in the debating chamber

Photo: VNP/Louis Collins

"When they built this debating chamber, they wanted to show everyone that New Zealand was a wealthy country," she tells the group.

"So they put fruit on the ceiling."

If being in the chamber where laws are made didn't quite bring the legislative process to life, the next and final stop did. Inside a select committee room, students roleplay some condensed lawmaking, making even the most urgent of urgency sittings look like a snail race.

The 'bill' came from student Kobe, who proposed that students should be allowed to use calculators in maths class. The bill has about 10 minutes to make it through the entire Parliamentary process.

The exercise kicked off with a first reading, during which students delivered speeches supporting or opposing the proposal.

Some argued that calculators could reduce effort and undermine learning.

Waipukurau student Kobe, making the case for his bill to allow calculators in maths

Photo: VNP/Louis Collins

"In a test, you're supposed to be able to learn and have to try your hardest, but if you have a calculator, you don't have to do much," one student said.

Others favoured a compromise, allowing calculators only after students have mastered basic numeracy.

"I believe you should keep it until you're about 10 without a calculator and use your simple maths. And then once you turn 10, you get harder and harder [maths] and use that calculator."

Following the debate, the bill passed its first vote and moved to the select committee stage, where students learned how legislation is scrutinised and how the public can make submissions.

Taylor encouraged the students to think about who the bill would affect.

"Probably the teachers, because maybe some of them, like math teachers, they might lose their jobs," one student offers. One argument in particular appears to land, and suddenly, calculator access is looking like a much harder sell.

"If the government had to supply calculators, then our taxes would go up," a student argues.

As lunchtime approached and the visit drew to a close, the students headed out onto Parliament's lawn, their lawmaking and press gallery careers concluded for now.

Students from Waipukurau school got a taste of the legislative process during their visit to Parliament

Photo: VNP/Louis Collins

O'Keefe said students spend the weeks leading up to the trip learning about Parliament, political parties, lawmaking, government budgets, and the wider political system.

In preparation for the visit, her class had formed its own political parties, complete with a government and opposition, and taken part in classroom debates, which put them in good standing for today's legislative roleplay.

The result, she said, is a level of engagement that consistently exceeds expectations.

"They're really excited," O'Keefe said, "they really enjoy the hands-on learning."

Even as a repeat visitor, she continues to discover new details each time she returns with a new batch of students. This visit, it was the fruit on the ceiling.

Parliament's education programme does more than explain how laws are made. It gives young people the chance to step into the process themselves, as MPs, Prime Ministers, journalists, and submitters.

Students from Waipukurau school on their visit to Parliament

Photo: VNP/Louis Collins

Most days, the halls of Parliament are not only an office, a lawmaking arena, and a function venue. For a few hours at a time, they also become a classroom.

You can listen to the audio version of this story by clicking the link near the top of the page.

*RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk. Enjoy our articles or podcast at RNZ.