Every day, thousands of school road patrollers across Aotearoa show up rain or shine to help their classmates cross the road safely. AA Lollipop Legends was created to recognise that dedication and give schools the chance to bring their own road safety ideas to life, backed by real funding and support.
The competition invites schools to submit creative projects that build safer roads and smarter habits for their students. This year's response was outstanding, with more than 400 entries received from schools nationwide. Two schools, Aranui Primary School in Whanganui and Whitney Street School in Blenheim, were named winners for their projects giving students a safe, practical space to build bike riding and road safety skills, each taking home $10,000 to make their vision real.
Rugby legend and AA Lollipop Legends ambassador Renee Holmes is proud to champion the kaupapa. As a former school road patroller herself, road safety is personal for Renee, and she's seen first-hand how quickly things can change on the road and how much school-based initiatives matter in keeping kids safe.
2026 Lollipop Legends winners
Aranui Primary School
We made a special visit to Whanganui, bringing rugby legend and AA Lollipop Legends ambassador Renee Holmes with us to celebrate our 2026 AA Lollipop Legends North Island winners Aranui Primary School!
Renee presented Aranui Primary School with a $10,000 grant from the AA to help them build a bike and scooter track that includes replica intersections, crossings and road signs to help students to develop valuable road safety skills they can take beyond the school gates.
Whitney Street School
We made a special visit to Blenheim recently, bringing rugby legend and AA Lollipop Legends ambassador Renee Holmes with us to celebrate our 2026 AA Lollipop Legends South Island winners Whitney Street School!
Renee presented a $10,000 grant from the AA to Whitney Street School, to help them bring their idea - a bike and scooter track with realistic road markings including stop and give way signs and zebra crossings - to life. The track will provide students with a safe space to practice road and bike safety, and allow their younger learners to build confidence and practice safe road-crossing skills before taking these lessons onto local streets.
About Lollipop Legends by The AA
School road patrollers play an important role in keeping their classmates and communities safe across Aotearoa, operating the ‘lollipop’ signs on the busy roads outside school grounds during pick-up and drop-off.
The AA has proudly supported school patrols for many years, partnering with NZ Police, NZTA and Community Road Safety Coordinators to help enable safer journeys for Kiwi kids. Lollipop Legends celebrates these incredible road patrol teams, recognising the difference they make in our efforts towards safer roads, rain, hail or shine.
If a school has a road patrol, staff can nominate them for a chance to win one of two $10,000 grants to improve safety at their school, along with a special celebration event to recognise their contributions attended by rugby legend Renee Holmes!
There will be one winning school in the North Island and one in the South Island.
Nominations for Lollipop Legends 2026 are now closed as of Sunday 26 July.
Thank you to everyone who nominated their local school. We appreciate your support.
The judges selected the prize winners at their sole discretion and evaluated nominations from Eligible Entrants with reference to, but not limited by, the following criteria:
Strength of nomination - How the school would use the $10k grant to improve safety for students and/or the community, and how great the impact of the grant would have on the winning school.
AA Lollipop Legends Competition Terms and Conditions