Tatuanui School Harvest Festival featured a pumpkin weighing the size of a full-grown miniature horse.

The vegetable grown by year 1-3 student Cody Morris weighed in at 76.5 kg making it the largest of 30 pumpkins grown by the students.

Pupils took home the seeds in term four last year in preparation for their harvest festival April 1.

The theme for the event comes from being an Enviroschool since 2006.

Teacher in charge Olivia Yates said: “[Enviroschool] is pretty much our heart and soul, it’s what we pride ourselves on. Because we are a farming community we want the students to know about the environment and how we can make it a better place.”

Yates hopes that by teaching the children they will teach others in the future.

The seeds will be collected from the pumpkins to be reused for next year’s harvest festival, continuing the Enviroschool philosophy.

The idea to have the event at the beginning of the year was to bring the community together, particularly for families new to the area.

Matamata-Piako Mayor Jan Barnes, who judged the pumpkins, said, “It’s about the community feel, everybody comes out and enjoys themselves. It’s not about winners, it’s about having a go.”

“Isn’t it great to bring everybody out on a Friday night? Come on out of the cities!” said Barnes.