sustainable communities Archives - Page 3 of 4

June 29, 2020

Harvest time for students

Autumn is harvest-time in our school's edible gardens: a time to marvel at what we grew and to enjoy some tasty garden treats! Grovetown School had a group cooking session using fruit from their orchard to make blackberry and apple tarts for the whole school. Laden trees of plums, apples and pears ensured they shared their mahi and kai with the wider school community. A bumper crop of late potatoes was the harvest highlight at Picton School. Using the tuakana-teina buddy system, older students introduced new children to the garden while digging potatoes. It was a great way to teach how to safely use the garden tools, but it soon became less about the tools...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

December 19, 2019

Enviroschools stories

Blenheim School: Kaitiaki for the awa

Tamariki at Blenheim School have been thinking about how they care for a place that is very special to their school: The Taylor River. The Envirogroup got together to think about kaitiakitanga, and talked about all of the different kaitiaki that care for the Taylor awa. These include ātua (e.g.: Tangaroa and Tamanuiterā), taonga species (e.g. tuna | eels), iwi/mana whenua, council, and community members. The students discovered that they can be kaitiaki for the awa too, as the more kaitiaki the awa has, the healthier the awa will be! They all had loads of examples of why the river is special to them. It turns out that they have already been doing some things...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

December 18, 2019

Enviroschools stories

Learning about the humble spud

What do you get when you cross an elephant with a potato? MASHED POTATO! Term 3 is a popular time of year in the Kids Edible Gardens. For most children participating, they are chitting (sprouting) potatoes, eagerly waiting to plant them into buckets for class potato growing competitions or planting into their garden beds. There is a lot of discussion as to how they will cook them: mashed with butter and cheese, roasted with summer herbs, added to boiled eggs as a salad or simply boiled with mint and eaten with lots of dipping butter! The most excitement, however, is digging them up before leaving school for their long summer holiday. There is, of course, much...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

October 22, 2019

Enviroschools stories

Enviro week at Renwick School

Ellen Theobald, co-leader of Renwick School's 'Green Ferns' enviro group, wrote this article to tell us about the school's recent Enviro Week activities. Our Green Ferns organised a really fun Enviro Week to coincide with the Climate Strikes and the work done by Climate Karanga and George Varney (Climate Youth Action Team) at the tree planting opportunity that was offered to schools. We also decided that we need to raise the profile of recycling within our classrooms as school systems changed and we needed to educate everyone to let them know what to do.

: Some of the eye-catching new recycling bins

The Green Ferns ran a competition where classes were encouraged to decorate their cardboard and paper recycling bins (Thanks...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

September 10, 2019

Enviroschools stories

Students have their say on NZ’s biodiversity plan

St Mary's Envirogroup students submit on NZ's biodiversity strategy. Can you imagine what our world would look like if there was only one type of tree or bird or one type of apple to eat? The children in St Mary’s Envirogroup didn’t want to imagine that type of environment. Healthy biodiversity is important to them. They know that Aotearoa New Zealand’s biodiversity is amazing! About 90 % of our insects, 80 % of trees, ferns and flowering plants, 25 % of bird species, all 60 reptiles, 4 frogs and 2 bats are found nowhere else on earth. The current Government strategy on biodiversity is 20 years old and expires in 2020. The Department of Conservation is putting...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

July 2, 2019

Enviroschools stories

Recycling bin revamp at Bohally

Bohally Intermediate's classroom recycling bins got a makeover this term, as classes battled it out to win a mufti day. Each class was challenged to revamp their bins for general recycling and GOOS (Good On One Side) paper, in a competition run by the school's enviro-team. The competition aimed to make students and teachers think about recycling, and to make sure that the bins were easy to find in the classroom. Some classes went all out, completely redesigning their bins from the ground up, while others worked to make what they already had more eye-catching. Judging took creativity, wow-factor, functionality, and the use of recycled materials into consideration, and gave bonus points to classes that had...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

July 1, 2019

Enviroschools stories

Thrift shop open for business at MGC

Marlborough Girls' College students have a new addition to their school: a thrift shop where students can recycle and purchase used clothing. A visit to Nelson College for Girls last year sparked the idea for this exciting new venture. Since then, a group of keen students have worked with supportive MGC staff to take the thrift shop from idea to reality. The students have created an inviting shop, bursting with donated clothing, shoes, and accessories. They have used recycled materials as much as possible, including upcycled and repurposed driftwood poles, secondhand shelves, and picture frames. Students wanting to dress up for house sports days and competitions will be able to select clothes and accessories from the 'house...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

May 1, 2019

Enviroschools stories

Wrappin’ at Blenheim School

Last term, students at Blenheim School took action to make their lunchboxes more sustainable. The whole school was involved in a beeswax wrap making day, where each student made and took home their own wrap. Led by teacher aide and Enviroschools lead Tracy Holdaway, the wraps were made using a special recipe of beeswax, jojoba oil and resin (recipe and ingredients from Pure Nature), which resulted in a beautifully soft, pliable, and slightly adhesive wrap. Once the students had finished, 60 more wraps were made to sell at a very affordable price from the school office. The Envirogroup are hoping that this initiative will raise awareness about alternatives to single-use plastic wrappers in lunchboxes, and see a...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

December 15, 2018

Enviroschools stories

Busy bees at Witherlea

Students at Witherlea School have been busy taking action to reduce their lunch waste. After doing some work around waste and finding out that most people throw away up to 45 kg of plastic each year, Witherlea students wanted to do something to help. They decided to begin their battle against plastic by introducing beeswax wraps to replace cling film in school lunchboxes. Their aim is for each student in the school to make their own beeswax wrap, using MDC's beeswax wrap kit, locally-sourced beeswax, and cotton fabric. So far, 80 children have made their own wrap, and the rest of the school will follow suit in Term 1 next year. The students love...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

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