Jacinda Ardern returns home to Morrinsville to kick off election campaign

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern told her home town today she was encouraged by polls that show her closing the gap on Bill English as New Zealand's preferred prime minister.

Ardern kicked off her election campaign telling senior students at Morrinsville College, and principal John Inger, coming back to "where it all started for me, where my roots are" felt like "the right thing to do".

Ardern recalled her days campaigning as a young Labour Party member, walking down the street where not everyone was supportive "and sometimes getting the middle finger down the main street", which gained a laugh from the crowd.

She got an even bigger chuckle after taking the mickey out of principal John Inger and his change in hair colour since she last saw him.

After a bit of questioning from senior students over morning tea, she headed to the Golden Takeaways fish and chip shop on the town's Main St to catch up with her former bosses Carol and Grant Covich, for whom she had worked once a week for four years.

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern is greeted by senior students at her old high school Morrinsville College. Photo / Alan Gibson

Ardern's homecoming came a day after yesterday's poll that showed Labour has risen from 24.1 per cent to 33.1 per cent in nine days and that Ardern has soared by a stunning 17.6 per cent to 26.3 per cent as preferred prime minister, almost neck and neck with Bill English, on 27.7 per cent.

Ardern said she had taken on a "massive role" as new Labour leader and was "certainly encouraged" by the polls.

"But it is early days. It's been a week. I'm really mindful that we still need to make some pretty decent gains in order to be in a position to command the ability to form Government so, heartened but we know we've got a lot of work to do."

However, she added that former Greens co-leader Metiria Turei should be acknowledged for the hard work she had put in over her 15-year term.

"I have seen a number of MPs over my nine years in Parliament leaving over tough circumstances and what I hope for all of those MPs is that there is time and reflection given to the contribution they have made to Parliament. Metiria gave 15 years and that needs to be acknowledged."

As for Labour's freshwater policy announced yesterday and whether she'd had any negative feedback from farmers, Ardern said it was "still a conversation that we're having" as it was barely 24 hours old.

But having come from Morrinsville, the impact on farmers was "absolutely top of my mind".

She said she chose to kick off her campaign in Morrinsville, because it was her home turf, "where I hail from, where I learned a huge number of life lessons".

"It's also where my family is from so it felt like a good place to start."

After getting swamped with hugs down the main street, Ardern left the media to catch up with her very excited grandparents.