Flashy stainless steel and forged in the shape of koru, the new water fountains at Otumoetai Intermediate School could be easily mistaken for modern art sculptures.

But the new fountains serve both style and purpose.

Designed by 12-year-old Otumoetai Intermediate School pupil Amelia Mckenzie, the twin fountains underwent a design process after being selected as the strongest design from a pool of 15-20 entries pulling from the school's logo as inspiration.

'It's in our school logo, so I thought it would be nice to tie it back to that.”

And as far as looks and taste, the fountains get Amelia's seal of approval.

'I thought they looked amazing. [The water] tasted really nice, it tastes better when you make the drinking fountain.”

Amelia hopes the fountains stand the test of time, and they last in the gardens for 'quite a while”.

'It's quite cool seeing other people drinking from your drinking fountain.”

But she's not sure whether creating the winning design this time will lead to a career in fountain-making.

'Probably not, I quite like engineering, but I don't know if I'd want to do it as a job.”

'But in my spare time I might design stuff.”

Amelia says she never expected to win when she was creating her design.

'I just thought it would a fun thing to do, and I didn't think I'd win but when I did it was really cool because you see you own creation there brought to life.”

The shiny new fountains not only look nice, serve a purpose, and add style to the school, they also hide a profound symbolism.

'The teacher is the big one for me and the student is the small one; and the teacher is helping the student, pushing the student out into the world and helping equip her.”