environmental education Archives - Enviroschools Marlborough

The final product - a finished pest tracking tunnel

June 22, 2026

Becoming Pest Detectives at St Mary’s School

How have New Zealand birds adapted to their environment, and how can we help protect them for the future? Taxidermy wild life kindly lent to us by Picton Dawn Chorus That was the big inquiry question Year 7 and 8 students at St Mary's School explored with Angela with a focus on native birds and introduced predators and pests. Using real-life examples, hands-on activities, and a little detective work, tamariki discovered why many of our native manu need our help. One of the highlights of the session was meeting a collection of taxidermy animals. Students had the rare opportunity to meet introduced predators including a rat, stoat, ferret, weasel, and a cat....

by Enviroschools Marlborough

March 31, 2026

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Providers Catch Up

It was great to meet up with some of the other providers that work in the environmental education space in Marlborough. This was the first of what we all hope will be many catch ups to come. It was an opportunity to share what we do in our work programmes. From Landcare to Te Hoiere, Climate Karanga Marlborough and The Falcon Trust, Envirohub and Forest and Bird, to name just a few who showed interest in the first catch up. The initial catch up, hosted by the environmental educators with Marlborough District Council was held at Te Kahu o Waipuna. Here we were able to chat about what we are all currently working...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

March 13, 2026

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Sea Week at Whatamango Bay – QCC Rangatahi in Action

A group of 20 Year 7 and 8 rangatahi led by Di Huntly from Queen Charlotte College celebrated Sea Week the best way possible by getting wet, muddy, and hands-on with tuangi/cockle monitoring at Whatamango Bay. The beautiful rimurimu meadow of Whatamango Bay The day was a special collaboration with Glenis Paul from the NZ Marine Studies Centre, Kiara Duke-Love from Te Ātiawa, and the college, bringing together science, mātauranga Māori, and local knowledge in one learning experience. The morning began with Matua Neville Tahuaroa-Watson, who opened the day with a karakia and the laying of a treasured pou. This set the intentions for the mahi ahead and asked for the protection...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

March 11, 2026

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KEGs at Seymour Kindergarten

Moisture testing Every Thursday morning Joy-Marie visits Seymour Kindergarten to facilitate the KEGs (Kids Edible Garden) programme. Joy facilitates a planned programme based around the garden as well as supports tamariki interests. Over the last few weeks she has been discussing 'water as energy for plants'. How water is essential for plants to grow and move nutrients throughout the plant. Each week tamariki have been testing the soil to see if it is too dry or too wet. They have discussions about what the soil feels like and if the plants need water. Last week tamariki made 'Nettle tea' by soaking stinging nettle in water for the week. When Joy-Marie brought it out tamariki...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 27, 2025

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Picton School – Growing a Food Forest From the Ground Up

A small group of Picton School tamariki taking part in the Science Alive programme spent Terms 2 and 3 diving deep into food forests and composting. What they achieved was incredible! The food forest plan Their goal was to set up a hot composting system in their Kids Edible Gardens and transform the ornamental garden near their lunch area into a thriving, productive space full of vegetables and herbs. They began by exploring how food systems work, then headed out to Esson’s Valley to see decomposition happening naturally. In the ngahere they noticed something important, the forest has a structure. Tall trees form the canopy, smaller plants create the understory, and...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 27, 2025

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Kūmara – Kai from the Atua Rongomātāne: Planting Day!

As a follow-up to last term’s kūmara kaupapa, Reuben returned to Redwoodtown School. The seed bed rangitahi had prepared was overflowing with strong, healthy tipu - a sure sign the mātauranga and maramataka-aligned preparation had worked. Rachel Ellis, their KEGs facilitator, had already prepared the garden beds with some of the younger tamariki, ready for the big planting. Everyone had the chance to carefully pull the tipu from the kūmara, then take them outside to plant. Before any digging began, the class paused to honour tikanga, saying a karakia over the tipu and the garden beds. The tipu were then planted in the traditional J-shape along the top of the mounds and gently watered in. Now it’s...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 22, 2025

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Waitohi Teachers Dive Into Seashore Learning With Marine Metre Squared

Waitohi Primary and Kindergarten teachers recently gathered for a hands-on workshop exploring how their local seashore and estuary could become a place of learning for their tamariki. Angela and Annie invited Glenis Paul from the NZ Marine Studies Centre to guide the session and introduce the Marine Metre Squared (Mm²) citizen-science programme. A great poster to understand the lifecycle of a shore crab. Mm² fits perfectly within the Nature of Science strand of the curriculum. No matter the shoreline - muddy, sandy, a river mouth or an estuary - there are endless links to the living, material, and physical world. And because these environments are always changing, there’s always something new...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 21, 2025

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Wildflower Seed Bombs for Bee Aware Month

Young tamariki across Marlborough were buzzing as they learnt all about bees and pollination. For the month of September, Ramona visited ECE services to celebrate Bee Aware Month. She took with her a kit of resources that included a bee pollination activity and equipment to make wildflower seed bombs. Ramona talking with the tamariki at Awatere Early Learning Centre Each session started with a quick discussion about pollen and nectar and some interesting facts; Bees use their antennae to smell. They can detect nectar 2 km away. Worker bees produce about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime. On one flight from the hive to collect honey, a honey...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

September 16, 2025

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Discovering Life in the Awa at McKendry Park

A small group of tamariki at Springlands Kindergarten have been making regular visits to McKendry Park. While there, they made an exciting discovery - tuna (eels) living in the small awa that flows through the park. Watching and feeding the eels quickly became a favourite activity, but it also sparked a question: What else lives in the awa? To find out, the group invited Angela to join one of their visits and share her knowledge about the invertebrates that make the awa their home. Wary of the eels and grateful for her waders to keep warm and dry, Angela demonstrated how to gently catch invertebrates. She showed the tamariki how to lift stones from the...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

June 11, 2025

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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

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