No Images? Click here
WHAT'S
NEXT
December 2018
Kia ora friend of NEXT
NEXT’s vision is for New Zealand to be a better country, for our land and our people – and the stories in this end of year newsletter showcase some of the organisations we support to achieve that.
Our latest environmental investment is a collaboration with iwi, DOC, private landowners and other philanthropists, to restore the biodiversity of the Upper Mackenzie Basin and Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park – Te Manahuna Aoraki. This project covers an area three times the size of Auckland – and seeks to protect some of New Zealand’s most stunning landscape and threatened riverbed birds.
Chairing Te Manahuna Aoraki is former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright, and we show the video made to accompany her NEXT Outlook breakfast talk with us, in which she explains some of our biodiversity challenges.
In another NEXT Outlook feature, Alison Sutton who leads Talking Matters, discusses why back and forth talk with babies in their first 1000 days is important for their brain development – and why oral language should be at the top of the Government’s agenda for young childrens' wellbeing.
We also share with you the story of Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru, the Rotorua backbone educational initiative NEXT has invested in for 3 ½ years, making Rotorua ‘a great place to learn’.
My very best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season for you and your families.
Yours in education and the environment
Bill Kermode
CEO, NEXT Foundation
Te Manahuna Aoraki
The South Island High Country is one of New Zealand’s most iconic regions – home to New Zealand’s highest mountain, Aoraki/Mount Cook, crystal blue lakes, braided rivers, and endangered riverbed birds like the black stilt and wrybill. NEXT Foundation, DOC, iwi, private landowners and other philanthropists are collaborating to restore the biodiversity of this region in an ambitious new project - Te Manahuna Aoraki.
NEXT Outlook: Dr Jan Wright
Chairing the Te Manahuna Aoraki initiative is former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright. In this edition of NEXT Outlook, Dr Wright talks about why New Zealand needs large landscape areas to be predator free, some of the environmental challenges we are facing, and why a bird with a wonky bill is a poster boy for our collective biodiversity responsibility.
Talking Matters
Why does talking in the first 1000 days of life matter? Talking Matters director Alison Sutton puts the case for more Government investment in talking with babies in the first 1000 days of life. “Right now we have a unique opportunity with the child wellbeing framework review and the review of early learning to get talk high on the agenda,” she says in this edition of NEXT Outlook. “We want recognition for its centrality early in life.”
Short version
Long Version
Ngā Pūmanwa e Waru
Five years ago Rotorua schools were competing for students. Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru, a backbone educational initiative NEXT invested in in 2015 has changed that – and introduced collaborative, digital and future focused learning that’s helping make Rotorua ‘a great place to learn’.
