learning for sustainability Archives - Enviroschools Marlborough

October 13, 2026

Bee Aware Month in Marlborough

Bee Aware Month is celebrated every September to recognise the important role that bees play in Te Taiao. This year across Marlborough many tamariki had the opportunity to learn and take action for bees. Learning was not limited to just honey bees either, bumblebees were also recognised for their vital role in pollination. To support this learning the New Zealand Bumblebee Conservation Trust gifted multiple copies of the story Bumblebee written by author Rachel Weston. These books were gratefully appreciated and used alongside multiple activities.

: Joy reading the Bumblebee book to tamariki at Springlands Kindergarten

: Tamariki learning about pollination through a game

Our Environmental Educator, Ramona, distributed these amongst centres and kindergartens and also shared them with our Kindergarten Kids Edible Garden facilitator Joy. Joy read the story to...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

September 25, 2026

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Waitaria Bay School – Everyday Kaitiakitanga & Solar Learning in the Sounds

Waitaria Bay School welcomed Angela and Sarah in Term 3 for a full day of sharing, exploring, and celebrating the incredible environmental mahi they carry out as part of everyday school life. The visit offered a rare glimpse into the depth of their ongoing projects. Including the independence of their tamariki as active kaitiaki of their remote Marlborough Sounds environment. Every term, the students from Waitaria Bay School travel to Manaroa Head to complete Litter Intelligence monitoring, contributing valuable data to the nationwide Sustainable Coastlines database. Their commitment to this long‑term citizen science project shows a strong understanding of how local action supports national environmental knowledge. Back at school, the tamariki proudly showed us their...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

September 22, 2026

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Growing Kūmara, Growing Knowledge

Over the past few years there has been an increasing interest in growing kūmara in Marlborough. We have seen this in both schools with our Kids Edible Gardens facilitators and ECE centres. So this term we hosted a workshop to deepen and strengthen this knowledge alongside Reuben Molnar from Te Whatu Ora and Tane Anderson from Sports Tasman. Reuben and Angela demonstrating how to set up a tāpapa Reuben Molnar, has been raising kūmara tipu with rangatahi at NMIT and growing crops at the community gardens. Over the past couple of years the rangatahi have generously shared some of the tipu they raised with Kids Edible Gardens. This has given our...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

December 9, 2025

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Nurturing and Nature

Springlands Kindergarten have added another opportunity for their tamariki to spend time in nature. The opportunity shows the Enviroschools Guiding Principle of Empowered Learners. L for Lela Teachers take the same group of six to eight students each week for a term to the same local park they can walk to - McKendry Park. Their route each week is chosen by the children, sometimes through the school next door to clamber over small mounds and wave to older brothers and sisters. Sometimes along the footpath where they can chat with locals walking by. Looking for tuna (eels) This opportunity is for nurturing both the children and the environment....

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

April 11, 2025

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From Audit to Action at Redwoodtown

At Redwoodtown School, like many across Marlborough, students and staff are working hard to reduce what ends up in landfill through a school-wide recycling system for paper, plastic and food waste. However recently, the school's Enviroleaders noticed that enthusiasm for proper sorting had started to slip. Rather than let things slide, they set themselves a new goal: to redesign the recycling area and make it easier and more inviting for everyone to use. Before making changes, the students wanted to understand what types of waste were most common and where it was ending up—both inside classrooms and around the school grounds. With the support of the school cleaners, a day was set aside for...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

April 9, 2025

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Exploring Nude Food at Witherlea School

This term, Year 5/6 students at Witherlea School embarked on an inquiry into Nude Food, investigating how food is packaged and exploring alternatives to disposable packaging. As they examined plastic wraps, zip-lock bags, and foil, they started to wonder: What actually happens to these materials once they’re thrown away? To dig deeper, Angela joined the students to explore how long everyday items take to break down. They considered a big “what if” question: What if everyone understood how long waste sticks around? Would that change the choices we make? The first challenge was to create a waste timeline. Students selected everyday items and arranged themselves in a line, predicting which would break down quickly and which...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 8, 2024

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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

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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

June 9, 2024

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Te Kura at Pollard Park

Angela hosted a small group of enthusiastic Te Kura students in the Backyard Garden at Pollard Park at the beginning of the term. Thankfully Tamanuiterā had melted the frost and warmed the garden making it the ideal place to observe the changes in season and investigate the types of vegetables that enjoy the cooler temperatures of autumn and winter. They found spinach, broad beans, parsley, spring onions, kale, cauliflower, silver beet and beetroot, taste testing some of the leaves as they went. They discovered that the tender young leaves of the broad beans can be eaten, these taste very similar to broccoli. To their delight they also discovered eating enough of the leaves turns...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

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