whole school Archives - Enviroschools Marlborough

April 5, 2024

Enviroschools 101 Workshop

An Enviroschool is full of active learners developing skills, understanding, knowledge confidence and working together to plan, design and create a sustainable place … but how do we get to that point? This term Angela and Annie ran an Enviroschools 101 workshop. This was for those new to Enviroschools or wanting to know a bit more before stepping into a lead role for Enviroschools at their school. Where was the best place to start? Out in the environment! Fairhall School was the background for our activities, noticing and observing te taiao in a slower more deliberate way. A place to map what we found to build a puna mātauranga, pool of knowledge. Creating a map is...

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

July 2, 2019

Enviroschools stories

Renwick students lead BioBlitz

Students in Renwick School's 'Green Ferns' enviro-group organised and ran a BioBlitz this term, to find and identify many of the different kinds of living things at their school. The whole school was involved in the BioBlitz, with students ranging from new entrants through to Year 8s scouring the school grounds for living things to study. The edible garden and school stream area were a focus, after the Green Ferns identified them as potential biodiversity hot spots. The Green Ferns, supported by Ms Tullet, did lots of mahi to prepare for the day. They planned how the day would run, with different classes taking part at different times of the day and in different parts of the...

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

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

December 4, 2018

Enviroschools stories

Community effort to recycle soft plastic

An exciting new collaboration between Riverlands School and local business Wineworks has led to the school establishing its own soft plastic recycling programme. Concerned that soft plastic wrappings commonly found in school lunchboxes weren’t able to be recycled along with the rest of the school’s plastics, students Sophie and Maia investigated possible options for dealing with this waste. A connection with nearby business Wineworks, via a school parent, led to discussions between the students and Wineworks staff. Wineworks recycle their own soft plastic, and decided to help, by adding soft plastics from Riverlands School to their programme. The students visited Wineworks to learn about how the plastic is recycled, and Wineworks provided the school...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

September 3, 2018

Enviroschools stories

Silver for Riverlands School

A big congratulations to Riverlands School for successfully reflecting at Enviroschools Silver. Riverlands School was one of the first schools to join the Enviroschools programme 12 years ago, and have continued to take special care of their environment ever since. With an active edible garden programme, students get the opportunity to learn about composting, growing seeds, and harvesting vegetables and fruits. Harvest Friday is a popular event at the school, and is celebrated with a market day. There are lots of produce, preserve, and craft stalls, along with treats made from fruit and vegetables grown at school. Planter boxes and bug house projects are helping students to learn about the smaller things that live in our world. Not...

by Enviroschools Marlborough

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