By ABIGAIL CASPARI in Rotorua
Question: Does Rotorua's John Paul College have the brainiest students in New Zealand?
Four of its junior students - Anthony Harris, Richard Todd, Michael Campbell and Liam Walsh - think so after making it to the heats of the latest TV quiz show New Zealand's Brainiest Kid.
More than 6000 children aged 11 and 12 sat a 45-question online test last September.
From there, the four Rotorua students and Year 8 student Riley Rodden-Brightwell from Whakatane Intermediate were invited to sit an hour-long exam in Hamilton.
The five, who have all done well academically at school, were among 54 contestants selected for the six heats which were filmed during the school holidays.
Nine students feature in each heat, with the winner and runner-up of each going on to the grand final.
The winner of each heat receives an Apple iBook computer and the winner of the grand final will receive $15,000 towards their education.
Filming of the heats and the final is finished and with screening underway the contestants' contracts prevent them from revealing how well they did.
However, the students from Rotorua reckon residents should make an effort to watch the programme to find out for themselves.
"This is very important for Rotorua," Richard says.
The young lads may not think John Paul College is necessarily the brainiest school in the country but Michael reckons it has "more than its fair share" of intelligent students.
Their scores in the online test ranged from 54 to 79 per cent.
Despite getting as far as he did, a disappointed Liam had to withdraw from the competition because the filming coincided with a family trip overseas. The remaining four said they enjoyed being on television and the extra perks of being flown to Wellington and staying in a hotel.
The show's associate producer Nix Jaques acknowledged it was impressive to have four make the heats.
One other school had three students make it into the heats, she said.
Principal Patrick Walsh said he was very proud of them.
"It's also great to have the smaller cities like Rotorua matching it with the bigger cities of Auckland and Wellington."
Tomorrow night's show on TV2 will see Riley battling it out with fellow contestants while Richard will be on next weekend's show. Anthony and Michael compete in the heat to be televised on March 18.
* New Zealand's Brainiest Kid screens on TV2 on Saturday at 6.30pm.
Come on, have a go. How brainy are you?
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