Thousands of people will take to the streets on Friday to protest inaction on climate change.
The latest School Strike 4 Climate will take place on Friday, children being joined by employees from businesses that signed the 'Not Business as Usual' pledge.
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More than 40 events are planned across New Zealand.
Equity fund New Ground Capital founder Roy Thompson told Newshub the striking children deserve support.
"Change is needed and it's needed now - not in one year, not in two years, but actually now - and we all need to play our part in it."
Participating was a no-brainer for Thompson, who says his daughter got him involved.
"My own children wanted to go. My daughter's only 12, so we're going to be chaperoning her."
He's encouraging businesses to be flexible and give workers time off to attend the strike.
Meanwhile, the ringleaders of the strike are lashing out at schools that have tried to use disciplinary action to stop students from taking part.
King's College denies saying students who are involved in the march could be suspended, while other schools have reportedly scheduled mock exams for today.
"I think it's pretty disgusting really that these schools who pride themselves as beacons of knowledge, critical thinking and science then turn around and don't let us apply it," Auckland strike leader Luke Wijohn told Newshub.
He said some participants are still skipping school to take part though.
"They've basically said that their exams aren't as important to them, they hate detention less than they love their planet and they're still going to be striking."
Fellow strike organiser, Porirua student Sophie Handford, said the strike is more than a day off school.
"I would encourage those people to say that to actually come down to the event and see the engagement from our young people at the strike.
"It's incredible - we've got people engaging with MPs, asking questions."
She echoed Thompson's comments, saying now was the time for action rather than words.
"The time has come now where we're actually not willing to sit in school and learn facts when our leaders seem to be not taking those facts into account."
More than 20,000 people took part in the last climate strike on March 15.
Newshub.
