Tertiary students Jack Wilson, 20, Scott Anderson, 19, Arjun Singh, 18, and James Coogan, 19, have just moved into their flat in Ada Street in Palmerston North.

As tertiary students return to the city, safety advisory groups are getting prepared to make sure they are receiving the right messages.

Orientation week kicks off at Massey University on Wednesday with city and Massey organisations preparing to welcome students back in a fun and safe way.

Palmerston North City Council safe city co-ordinator Alane Nilsen said Operation Combi was in action and different organisations would be out door-knocking within the next week.

Operation Combi - a combined effort involving city Safety Advisory Board members including police, fire service, ACC, Palmerston North City Council and the Massey University Students' Association - was started after the deaths of two students in flat fires in 2005 and 2006.

This year she said they would be promoting an online party register set to launch, where students could register parties to make police aware they were occurring.

She said anyone could use the registration but they would be targeting certain student areas to encourage them to use it.

"We're going to get out information on what good host responsibility is... with the police visiting them there's going to be that face-to-face and it means if something gets out of hand they know who to contact.

"It's not about punishing somebody, it's about making sure people are keeping safe and have a great time.

"We want them to have fun and have a memorable time in our city."

Scott Anderson, 19, said this was his first year flatting in Palmerston North and he was moving into Ada St, a street known for its student lifestyle.

Anderson said he had moved to the area for the convenience.

He said he wasn't sure if the party registration would be used and it depended on how it was approached.

"It depends on how big the party was."

Flatmate James Coogan, 19, said it would also depend on what happened when you did register.

"If they were going to hassle us too much [probably not]. It depends what they were going to do, how they were going to handle it."

Sarah Karika, 21, said this was her second year living in Ada St and she thought this year's O Week would set the tone for the street's behaviour for the year.

"It will be interesting to see how this year's O Week goes and we'll know from there."

However, she was optimistic about the streets behaviour.

"I think it will be better this year."

The houses that were the "party houses" last year had a fence put up separating them more, which Karika thought would stop the parties.



