{"id":612014,"date":"2026-09-26T03:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T03:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612014\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T03:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T03:22:09","slug":"st-marys-tauranga-students-create-life-size-human-image-of-christ-the-redeemer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612014\/","title":{"rendered":"St Mary\u2019s Tauranga students create life-size human image of Christ the Redeemer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\" Students wave as a drone flies overhead to capture the completed formation from above. Photo \/ Zoe Blake<\/p>\n

The statue was mapped onto the school\u2019s sports field to match its actual dimensions, 30m tall and 28m wide.<\/p>\n

More than 450 students and teachers completed the human image.<\/p>\n

Teacher Deanne Willemse led the project and postponed her own holiday to see it through.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of planning went into it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

She described how the outline was painted onto the field with help from a neighbour of the school.<\/p>\n

\" Final adjustments were made to the field outline with scissors.<\/p>\n

The final touches came on the morning of the event.<\/p>\n

Willemse decided the figure\u2019s hands looked \u201ctoo boxy\u201d and didn\u2019t sit right, so they reworked the paint and sent students out with scissors to trim the grass back to the old lines.<\/p>\n

Students and teachers then gathered, methodically taking their places to complete the shape.<\/p>\n

Among the crowd was Cece, the school\u2019s one-eyed puppy, affectionately nicknamed \u201cCe\u201d by some.<\/p>\n

\" Cece, St Mary\u2019s Catholic School\u2019s one-eyed puppy, joins students for the Christ the Redeemer project. Photo \/ Zoe Blake<\/p>\n

Excitement grew as a drone rose above the field to capture the finished image from the air. Students waved and jumped eagerly.<\/p>\n

Caretaker George Warnock revealed his first test flight had taken place just an hour earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like a good day for it… not too windy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Principal Fay Warnock addressed the students following the reveal, thanking everyone involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an amazing learning this has been for us this term.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for sharing in all the many helping hands that have helped to make this beautiful Christ the Redeemer on St Mary\u2019s field.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Students and teachers take their places to create a human replica of the statue. Photo \/ Zoe Blake<\/p>\n

Year 6 students Zac Scott and Holly Ryder said the project was a highlight of the term. <\/p>\n

They said the idea came about because the class wanted to bring what they were learning to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019re learning about the Seven Wonders of the World, we thought \u2018oh, let\u2019s do this\u2019,\u201d Ryder said.<\/p>\n

The pair could also reel off facts about the landmark, including its materials and how its famous pose came about.<\/p>\n

\" Year 6 students Zac Scott and Holly Ryder. Photo \/ Zoe Blake<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve learned quite a lot about how it was built and what it was used for,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

He said Christ the Redeemer was fitting for the Catholic school because of its religious significance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like one of the biggest sorts of Catholic statues in the world, and we\u2019re a really Catholic school, so it just sort of fits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryder said she\u2019d like to see the real thing in Rio one day.<\/p>\n

Zoe Blake is a multimedia journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students wave as a drone flies overhead to capture the completed formation from above. Photo \/ Zoe Blake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17352,5232,1444,19345,16420,17518,301489,301487,148220,3025,111,43,139,69,1118,301488,4062,11420,3790,3767,1227,223,1847,122],"class_list":["post-612014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-christ","tag-create","tag-famous","tag-field","tag-human","tag-image","tag-janeiros","tag-lifesize","tag-marys","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-redeemer","tag-school","tag-st","tag-statue","tag-students","tag-tauranga","tag-the","tag-twin","tag-unlikely"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}