water of life 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

September 16, 2025

Enviroschools stories General

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

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

April 9, 2025

Enviroschools stories General

Exploring the Health of the Awa: Water is Life

We all interact with water every day—but how often do we stop to consider where it comes from, where it goes, and the life it supports along the way? This was the driving question for the Year 7 and 8 students at Fairhall School as they explored the health of their local awa as part of their inquiry, Water is Life. The first challenge? Choosing a suitable waterway to study. The students quickly discovered that not all rivers flow year-round, and appearances can be deceiving. While Doctor’s Creek at Benmorven Rd and Fairhall River seemed like ideal study sites, they often run dry in summer. Further downstream, Doctor’s Creek resurfaces—but in a degraded state, making it...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

November 24, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

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

August 18, 2024

Enviroschools stories

Wetlands – Nature’s Superheroes!

Last term four schools took the opportunity to work next to and learn from the Wetland Warriors volunteers just how amazing our wetlands are. It was made possible thanks to a wonderful collaboration between Junior Landcare, Enviroschools and the Wetland Warriors at Grovetown Lagoon. Standing on the banks of the lagoon, it can be a little tricky to understand just how wetlands filter water and protect surrounding areas from flooding. So Angela visited the schools armed with two experiments that helped to explain the wetland superpowers. The first experiment explored how wetlands manage water, especially during heavy rains or storms. Students built a landscape out of clay then imitated a rainfall event by pouring water over...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

April 5, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Tua Marina Stream Study

The Tuamarina Awa is a tributary of the Wairau Awa and flows through the largest remaining wetland in the Wairau catchment, the Para Wetland. Unfortunately, the water quality of the Tuamarina awa is rated as marginal, unacceptable water quality that needs to be improved. The awa passes Tua Marina school on the opposite side of SH1. It’s not an easy place to get to but the senior students wanted to learn more about it. Particularly its health and what they could do to care for it now and in the future. With a whole school inquiry into science, they leapt at the chance to investigate the awa with a scientific lens. They studied the cycle...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

January 13, 2024

Enviroschools stories General

Writers Walk Poem Unveiling

On a cool Spring day on the Taylor River the 21st poem was unveiled. Written by Mia Lasenby from Wairau Valley School, this new poem forms part of the Writers Walk. Springlands School students who were passionate about the environment start the project in 2009. The students had been learning all about the Taylor River including its water quality and came up with an idea that would make a difference then and in the future. With support from Marlborough District Council, who provided the large rocks. Sowmans Funeral Home who set the poems on plaques. Cathee Wilks and Ali Kay, teachers and project champions. 14 years on, the project is still going strong. They have...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

October 4, 2023

Enviroschools stories

Grovetown School Student Scientists

The children in Waihi class at Grovetown School have been investigating the health of the creek that runs alongside their school. After the Grovetown School students first visit to observe the creek they felt pretty confident that it wasn’t in a very good state. But the children wanted some facts to back up what they saw. The children named the weed on top of the creek Frog Porridge. Using the Enviroschools Stream Study Kit they measured the flow, temperature, and clarity of the water, before identifying the creatures that live in the creek. Unfortunately the only creatures they found were small snails. All their tests of the creek failed to meet healthy...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

February 7, 2023

News-and-funding

Sustainable Action Ideas | Term One 2023

Our term one Sustainable Action Ideas newsletter explores the Enviroschools Guiding Principle of Respect for the Diversity of People and Cultures. It highlights some of the changes we have made to the delivery of the programme as well as some ideas for taking action. On page four you will also find this terms PLD opportunities and awareness dates. Click here to access our online Padlets to view this newsletter and previous ones....

by Enviroschools Marlborough

water of life Tag