Tauranga's city centre will be awash in orange high-viz with the return of the annual Orange Day Parade today.

Run by New Zealand Police, Tauranga City Council, Travel Safe and Fulton Hogan, 700 students from 29 schools will march through the CBD to raise awareness of road safety around schools.

All of the students involved attend either primary or intermediate schools which work alongside Travel Safe and police in promoting road safety and active transport options, like road patrols, bus monitors, traffic wardens and Travel Safe students.

As part of the parade students will march with banners displaying pro-active and relevant messages to help lift the level of road safety and active transport in their community. These banners will be on display during the parade and will also be used throughout the following year.

Liana Needham, 11, and Sage Bennet, 11.