empowered students Archives - Page 2 of 7 - Enviroschools Marlborough

September 4, 2025

Rapaura’s Gifford Room – Turning Climate Learning into Climate Action

The Year 7 and 8 ākonga in Gifford Room at Rapaura School were among the first to take part in the Climate Change Learning Programme Angela has been facilitating in Term 2 and 3. They recently welcomed her back for the final step, bringing together everything they had learned to create an action that will share their climate knowledge with others, raise awareness of climate change and kaitiakitanga and make a positive difference at school. Actions to take now and into the future During the programme, they had explored the value of different perspectives, showing manaakitanga for other people’s views, and working together with nature to find solutions. They also recognised that...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

June 18, 2025

Enviroschools stories General

Student participation event

This year our Environmental Education team have taken a focus on the Enviroschools key area of People and Participation. As part of this focus they held a student participation afternoon. They held the event earlier this term with over 60 students from Marlborough schools taking part. It was aimed at primary school student Envirogroup leaders. With World Environment Day coming up, activities were developed and then set up to get students thinking about what activities they could do in their schools to highlight World Environment Day as well as have a bit of fun doing them.

: Water Race

: Making newspaper bags

: Making bags from old t-shirts

The activities consisted of making seed bombs, recycled t-shirt bags, a recycling relay and a water race....

by Enviroschools Marlborough

June 13, 2025

Enviroschools stories General

Identifying Hazards at Sheps’ Park

Springlands Kindergarten students identify park hazards on their Nature Connection excursion and take action to get changes made. The students at Springlands Kindergarten regularly use Sheps' Park as part of their Nature Connection programme. When they arrive the teachers and students do a walk about and check for hazards on every visit. On one of their walkabouts they noticed some things that could be dangerous for them and others. The students and teachers contacted the Parks and Open Spaces team at Marlborough District Council (MDC) to see if they knew of these and could help. Rachel Hutchinson for the Parks and Open Spaces team met with some of the students, teachers and part of...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

June 11, 2025

Enviroschools stories General

Discovering Stream Secrets: Marlborough Children Investigate the Taylor River

Earlier this term, ākonga from four Marlborough schools rolled up their sleeves, and trousers, taking part in a hands-on freshwater education event along the Taylor River. With guidance from Angela, Wendy (Junior Landcare), and volunteers from Forest & Bird, students explored the world of freshwater invertebrates and how these tiny creatures can tell us about stream health. The afternoon began with a visual habitat assessment. Ākonga learned to observe the features of a waterway—such as gravel beds, shaded banks, riffles, pools and runs. They used this information to make an assessment of the health of the awa. Tamariki then rotated between two hands-on, creative activities: designing and making their own bug bags, and building bathy...

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

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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

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

June 21, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Wetland Warriors

Every Wednesday morning a volunteer team calling themselves the Wetland Warriors meet at Grovetown Lagoon to plant natives, weed, clear paths, raise plants and trap pests to protect the beautiful environment around the Lagoon. This term on partnership with Junior Landcare, Envirogroup’s have the opportunity to work alongside the Wetland Warriors (WW) volunteers while learning about the wetlands and why its restoration is so important. Unfortunately the first session was called off due to wet weather, and so in the first week of June Tua Marina and Waikawa Bay Schools became the first groups of students to join the WW team. Their job for the morning was to plant grasses and trees on the banks of...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

June 9, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Tuarua – giving back – at Waikawa Bay School

The students at Waikawa Bay School have been learning about the values of Matariki with a focus on tuarua - giving back. Free Fair at Waikawa Bay School The first three weeks of term 2 students explored what it means to help and support others. They explored ways that appreciation can be shown and developed an understanding of how in working together as a community everyone is valued. Ideas came flooding in as to how the school could say thank you to the people and local community groups that had given time, shared their knowledge and expertise, donated sports and classroom equipment, and funding for projects. The ideas were sorted and grouped together...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

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