Firefighters worked to rescue students from a crashed car at Tauranga Girls' College on Wednesday afternoon – but their efforts were all for show.

The group of students created a mock car crash to raise awareness of the damage of drink driving as part of the Students Against Drunk Driving Week.

Firefighters use the jaws of life to remove Geniver Martin from a smashed car at Tauranga Girls' College.

The theme for this year's SADD Week is choice - and students from the school's SADD Group have been planning the week's activities all year.

The week is based around a group of students who go to a party and make the decision to get in the car with a drunk driver.

The scenario is played out throughout the week from police bringing in the ‘booze bus' on Monday, to a mock student funeral this Friday.

On Wednesday lunchtime students gathered in the school grounds to watch as Tauranga firefighters used the jaws of life to remove trapped and bloodied bodies from the crashed car.

SADD group member Julie Coatham helped organise the event and says it went better than expected.

'There's definitely a lot more people watching than last time.

'The students are definitely getting into it; they're quite excited. They were all arguing who would get to be in the car.”

Julie, who has lost a friend in a drunk driving accident, says the message behind SADD Week is personal and a very important lesson for all students.