Categories: News

Top entertainers chosen as favourite celebrities in student census

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1370" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;03&sol;SND13-wk4-Census-Stan&lowbar;Walker&lowbar;300x224&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND13-wk4-Census-Stan Walker 300x224" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"224" &sol;>Singer and The X-Factor New Zealand judge Stan Walker is Kiwi kids&&num;8217&semi; favourite local celebrity&comma; according to the first insights to emerge from CensusAtSchool&sol;TataurangaKiTeKura&comma; the only national survey of what schoolchildren are thinking&comma; feeling and doing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Walker&comma; 24&comma; who shot to fame after winning Australian Idol in 2009&comma; was in front after day three of CensusAtSchool&sol;TataurangaKiTeKura&comma; a long-running&comma; online educational project that brings statistics to life in the classroom&period; Supervised by teachers&comma; students aged between 9 and 18 &lpar;Year 5 to Year 13&rpar; answer 35 questions in English or te reo M&amacr;ori about their lives&comma; then analyse the results in class&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>CensusAtSchool&sol;TataurangaKiTeKura was launched on Monday March 16&comma; and by 5pm on Wednesday&comma; March 18 more than 2500 students had taken part&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Among the questions they answered was&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Who is your favourite New Zealand celebrity&quest;&&num;8221&semi;&period; They could name anyone&period; Many said they didn&&num;8217&semi;t have a particular favourite&comma; but among those who did&comma; Walker&comma; of T&umacr;hoe and Ng&amacr;ti T&umacr;wharetoa&comma; picked up 25 per cent of the votes&period; Second was Auckland singer Lorde&comma; 18&comma; whose 2013 debut single&comma; Royals&comma; was an international hit&period; She got 21 per cent of the vote&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>CensusAtSchool&sol;TataurangaKiTeKura co-director Rachel Cunliffe&comma; an online communications and youth culture specialist&comma; says Stan Walker&&num;8217&semi;s talent&comma; coupled with his sincerity and positive nature&comma; makes him very appealing to children and young people&period; &&num;8220&semi;Stan Walker rose above a really rough childhood&comma; and that&&num;8217&semi;s inspirational&period; He&&num;8217&semi;s also a role model – he was campaigning against bullying long before it became a huge issue on The X Factor New Zealand&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ms Cunliffe says Lorde&&num;8217&semi;s appeal lies not only in her music&comma; but also in her refusal to be anything other than herself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;She&&num;8217&semi;s a positive&comma; strong&comma; empowering personality&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More than 1700 teachers from 834 schools all over New Zealand have registered for CensusAtSchool&comma; which runs until May 29&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>CensusAtSchool&comma; now in its seventh edition&comma; is a collaborative project involving teachers and the University of Auckland&&num;8217&semi;s Department of Statistics&comma; with support from Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry of Education&period; It is part of an international effort to boost statistical capability among young people&comma; and is carried out in Australia&comma; the United Kingdom&comma; Canada&comma; the US&comma; Japan and South Africa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The countries share some questions so comparisons can be made&comma; but the majority reflect New Zealand students&&num;8217&semi; interests&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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