Kindergarten powered by Tama-nui-te-rā!
This term, Renwick Kindergarten staff, students and whānau celebrated the installation of their new solar panels.
After Renwick Kindergarten reflected at Green-Gold in 2019, the kindergarten community was inspired to investigate renewable energy sources: both as a way of future-proofing for generations to come, and minimizing their environmental impact. After lots of meetings and discussions, the decision was made to go solar.
Making use of Tama-nui-te-rā (the sun) – who nearly always shines on Marlborough – seemed such a natural option. The kindergarten partnered with Harrisons Solar to install the panels. As a local, family-owned business, Harrisons are a past whānau for the kindergarten, and they were actively involved in raising the funds well before the project went out for tender.
Being able to see in real-time the power generated by the solar panels and what the kindergarten consumes has been an amazing opportunity for the kaiako and tamariki to further their learning for sustainability. They have been able to carry out science investigations and experiments while at the same time learning about energy conservation. The Enviroschools Guiding Principle of Sustainable Communities has been at the heart of this project from day one, and staff and tamariki feel incredibly lucky to be a part of such an amazing, generous community that supported them to get this vision off the ground, and onto their roof!
You can read more about this project and Renwick Kindergarten’s other plans in this Stuff article.