take action Archives - Enviroschools Marlborough

December 9, 2025

MGC at Grovetown Lagoon

Discovering the Living Systems of Grovetown Lagoon Year 10 ākonga from the Mountains to Sea course at Marlborough Girls’ College spent the day exploring the amazing ecosystems of Grovetown Lagoon - a place they’d already been learning about in class. Split into three groups, each team started with a different adventure rotating around each activity. Group one joined local birder Phil Bradfield on a walk around the lagoon, learning to identify the many manu that make this wetland home and discovering how species like whitebait form an important part of the food chain. Group two rolled up their sleeves with Justine Johnson, helping to release young native trees from the weeds around them. Their mahi will give...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 27, 2025

Enviroschools stories General

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

Enviroschools stories General

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

Enviroschools stories General

Planting Together at Pine Valley Wetlands

Renwick School and Redwoodtown School took part in a planting day in the Pine Valley wetlands earlier this term. The idea to take part in the Pine Valley wetlands planting came from a keen group of ākonga at Renwick School. Angela, who has been supporting the group since meeting them through the Climate Change Learning Programme, reached out to the Pine Valley Committee to see if a planting day might be possible. Redwoodtown tamariki planting at the Pine Valley wetlands restoration. Committee member Rachel Ellis, who also supports the Redwoodtown School Enviroleaders, was quick to say yes! She organised her group to join in, and together they spent the day planting, learning,...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

20 year celebration - the mayor saying a few words

September 14, 2025

Enviroschools stories General

Celebrating 20 years of Enviroschools in Marlborough

To celebrate 20 years of Enviroschools in the region, students from 4-12 years old from around Marlborough helped to plant trees and plants along the Taylor River Walkway. The students from 6 schools, Springlands kindergarten and Montessori were welcomed with a mihi. Followed by an introduction to the planting site, a site that was created in 2000 with Forest and Bird. The area was then added to in 2005 when Enviroschools first started in Marlborough. Again in 2015 at the Enviroschools 10 year celebration and recently for the 20 year celebration.

: Identifying leaves with Angela

: Natural collage – how our plantings will look in the future

: Natural exploration space constructing

: Insect hunting in the bush

To connect to the space, students took part in a range of activities, including hunting for insects, making a natural collage,...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

September 4, 2025

Enviroschools stories General

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 13, 2025

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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

April 11, 2025

Enviroschools stories General

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

December 10, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Growing a sustainable community

“The visions we have for the future affect what we think is worth doing in the present” In term one this year the Redwoodtown Kindergarten teaching team set about creating an Enviroschools vision. They considered what was important to them, the tamariki, whānau and community. Some of the actions that they identified after brainstorming around the Enviroschools Guiding Principles were to strengthen their community relationships, create more gardens and set up a koha table - a place to share produce and kai. To say that it has been a busy year for the team would be an understatement. They have worked hard to make these goals become a reality. Mara Kai Having been growing kai in a...

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

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