Enviroschools stories Archives - Enviroschools Marlborough

December 10, 2024

Growing a sustainable community

“The visions we have for the future affect what we think is worth doing in the present” In term one this year the Redwoodtown Kindergarten teaching team set about creating an Enviroschools vision. They considered what was important to them, the tamariki, whānau and community. Some of the actions that they identified after brainstorming around the Enviroschools Guiding Principles were to strengthen their community relationships, create more gardens and set up a koha table - a place to share produce and kai. To say that it has been a busy year for the team would be an understatement. They have worked hard to make these goals become a reality. Mara Kai Having been growing kai in a...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

December 4, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Riverlands School at Onamalutu

A large group of tamariki Yrs 1 -3 from Riverlands School headed to Onamalutu Reserve earlier this term as a celebration of their learning around sustainability and the living world. At school they had created bird feeders and houses, planted vegetables and cleaned up rubbish. The trip was a chance to see the beautiful areas they can create when nurturing the environment with the small actions they took at school. The ngahere at Onamalutu is a remnant of podocarp forest once common in Wairau. It has beautiful mature kahikatea, matai and totara. The reserve was donated by a local sawmiller in 1901. This has preserved a small part of the natural ngahere that filled...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

December 4, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Bioblitz – Grovetown Lagoon

Enviroschools and Junior Landcare joined up again in term 4 to give the opportunity for rangatahi to become scientists in a Bioblitz at Grovetown Lagoon. Biodiversity brings to mind thoughts of remote, wild places full of extraordinary animals and plants. While wild areas are rich in biodiversity, we can easily overlook the variety of species that surround us every day in easy to reach, local spaces - even on the school playing field. Did you know that New Zealand has 2000 species of spiders and you are likely to find one million spiders in one hectare of paddock land! Angela, Wendy (NZ Landcare), Rosanne and Justine (Wetland Warriors) welcomed rangatahi from Queen Charlotte College and...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 24, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Taylor River Writers Walk

On the 29th of October the first ECE written poem was unveiled to be a part of the Taylor River Writers Walk. Huddled under umbrellas next to the Old Mill on the Taylor River the rain didn’t put anyone off. Students from both Springlands School and Mayfield Kindergarten opened the celebration with waiata. Several speeches followed to acknowledge how special this addition was to an already very well valued part of the Taylor River.

: Springlands School

: Mayfield Kindergarten

This year's poem was a collaborative effort from the Marlborough Kindergarten Association. It combines the voices of multiple tamariki to share their message. Titled Te Awa o Omaka, it reads beautifully about what they value from the...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 8, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Richmond View School explore the three R’s

In term three, the Year 0-6 students at Richmond View School dove into exploring the three R's of recycling and how they can help protect our environment. Three groups of students were set up, each focusing on one aspect of recycling using different materials. One group, working alongside their teacher Marion van der Berg, used the Enviroschools Beeswax Wrap Kit to understand how recycling, reusing, and reducing can help our buzzing bee friends. The wraps also help us protect nature through littering less. Before they began, their Richmond View School community was invited to bring in items that they would normally throw away or recycle. Such as newspapers, plastic bottles, cotton fabric scraps, unused...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 8, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Montessori Keep New Zealand Beautiful

Keep New Zealand Beautiful is a nationwide not-for-profit organisation that encourages communities to engage in activities promoting environmental stewardship. It focuses on reducing waste, recycling, planting trees, and beautifying local areas. The initiative helps foster a sense of pride in New Zealand’s natural environment and encourages everyone, especially young tamariki, to participate in actions that create a more sustainable future. Through hands-on projects, children can learn the importance of environmental care, laying the foundation for them to become kaitiaki (guardians) of the land. During Keep New Zealand Beautiful Clean Up week, the tamariki at Montessori explored ways to care for Papatūānuku by making their very own beeswax wraps. The tamariki were fascinated as the...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

September 18, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Kahikatea Reserve

Earlier in the year, Tua Marina and Springcreek Schools teamed up to replant a section of the Kahikatea Reserve. This amazing restoration project was started 20 years ago. The aim being to return the land to original ngahere and water ways. A group sitting quietly counting birds When planting the damaged section, we could hear numerous birds in the maturing ngahere beside us. Of course we also had piwakawaka ducking and diving around us as we disturbed the insects that piwakawaka love to eat. We came up with the idea of returning each year to do a bird count. Both in the 20-year-old section and the newly planted section. This would measure...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

September 13, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Knowledge of Tānemahuta grows at Springlands School

If you haven’t been to Mckendry Park in Spring, it is something that you must do. Golden and white Daffodils dot the park, whilst spring blossom gently falls to the ground from the breeze of Tāwhirimātea, as if snow is falling. The students of Springlands school got to experience this magic as part of their learning about Tānemahuta. This term Ramona and Angela from our Environmental Education Team worked alongside Springlands School to put together a plan to learn about Tānemahuta and his presence within their school and surrounding areas. Tānemahuta is the guardian of all the forests and all the birds and plants that live there.

The plan that was put...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

September 12, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Ward School Nature Connection

After an introduction to Nature Connection at a workshop held by Ramona and Angela earlier this year, the idea of utilising an unused and wild area at Ward School grew in Nicole Cochranes mind. It came to fruition at the beginning of this term when she led a group of excited children beyond the normal school boundary. This was the first of weekly visits to explore and connect with nature. Each visit begins with setting up their ‘base camp’. Then they walk the perimeter to look for hazards that may have cropped up since their last visit. During their walk children pick up treasures – leaves, flowers, sticks, anything that takes their interest – to...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

August 18, 2024

Enviroschools stories

Wetlands – Nature’s Superheroes!

Last term four schools took the opportunity to work next to and learn from the Wetland Warriors volunteers just how amazing our wetlands are. It was made possible thanks to a wonderful collaboration between Junior Landcare, Enviroschools and the Wetland Warriors at Grovetown Lagoon. Standing on the banks of the lagoon, it can be a little tricky to understand just how wetlands filter water and protect surrounding areas from flooding. So Angela visited the schools armed with two experiments that helped to explain the wetland superpowers. The first experiment explored how wetlands manage water, especially during heavy rains or storms. Students built a landscape out of clay then imitated a rainfall event by pouring water over...

by Enviroschools Marlborough