ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Water is a precious and finite resource. Taking care of our wai is a topic you can explore with students over the course of the term. Here are a few ideas and resources which could help. Contact me to receive more information on any of these resources/activities, or if you want to discuss your particular requirements. 

Kura Kaitiaki promotes kaitiakitanga (guardianship) through water conservation.The resource explores the issues around tap water, and is divided into four sections. These focus on;

1. water as a resource,
2. the water cycle,
3. how much water are we using, and
4. making change (which provides students with an opportunity to use their new knowledge and understanding to make informed decisions about how they use water). 

I can help you explore water quality by running a class based Enviroscapes session. Enviroscapes® is a water catchment model that has a range of activities which help students to identify the types of non-point source pollution, (coming from both urban and rural areas), and how they can impact water quality. This is a good precursor to completing a Waiora stream study at a local river. 

Waiora stream study continues with the theme of water quality and investigates these issues, aquatic habitats and the impacts of land management. The programme is available as a facilitated session or you can simply borrow the monitoring kit and carry out your own study. A full teacher’s guide is included in the kit. Although this programme is aimed at senior primary to intermediate, we can bespoke it to any age group. 

 If you are a high school, you might be looking at ideas for NCEA projects, or delving much deeper into water quality and land use, for example. We have helped support schools in setting up long term monitoring projects, or river days where, students have conducted tests on three different sites on a river as it flows through different land uses. Contact me to talk about your ideas.

If you are an Enviroschool, remember to check out the Water for Life theme area which is also available for download on the Enviroschools website. Remember you need your login in to access this.

If you are in Manawatū River catchment, you can also explore the Plastic Pollution Challenge with facilitator support. If you are outside of the catchment, you can download the toolkit and set up your own plastic pollution challenge. Contact the coordinator here for more information. 

ENVIROSCHOOLS

More funding for Enviroschools in Rangitīkei and Manawatū

We are excited to announce that both Manawatū and Rangitīkei District Councils have increased funding for Enviroschools in their respective districts. A huge thank you to both councils for their ongoing support for the programme which they recognise has an important role in embedding sustainability into schools and centres. This increase in funding means that, across both districts, we have places on the programme for 12 new Enviroschools. 

If you are a school or early childhood centre in either Manawatū or Rangitīkei and are interested in learning more about the Enviroschools programme, please contact me.

Additional funding supported two hui in two weeks

We are thankful to receive additional $$ from the national Enviroschools team to support us in running two Enviroschools events in October, one of which had been postponed from May due to Covid-19 restrictions. Here is a brief write up about each.

Bumper attendance at our regional ECE wānanga

These past school holidays saw 57 teachers from 13 early childhood centres attend our regional ECE wānanga. Held at one of our Green Gold Enviroschools, Manchester Street School, Feilding, attendees came together for the day which has a focus ‘Māori Perspectives through the Water for Life theme area’. Two kindergartens shared mahi on how they have explored water with their tamariki, and how they have kept the Enviroschools journey going when there are numerous staff changes at the centre. Attendees also had the opportunity to explore the landscape of both the host Enviroschool and a kindergarten.

Forgotten fauna was the focus of our first primary student
Enviroschools Hui

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, our first student enviro-leader hui was held in October. The kaupapa of Enviroschools is about empowering young people to take action on things that are important to them. So we gave 60 Year 5 to 8 young enviro-leaders from primary Enviroschools in Manawatū and Rangitīkei the opportunity to learn about some of our lesser known fauna – lizards, fish and bats, what they can do to take action on preserving these wonderful creatures, and connect with each other. We held this hui at Mt Lees Reserve in Feilding, a place that is local to many of the schools attending, but not visited by many. Wildlife Foxton Trust brought along some native and non-native lizards which were a huge hit with the students, staff from Wildbase Recovery, who normally focus on native birds, talked about native fish supported with a tankful of eels and bullies collected by Horizons science staff. Lastly, Horizons biodiversity staff talked about bats and how the regional council monitors private bush blocks for signs of our native furry mammal. Students heard ways in which they could take action at school such as making lizard tracking tunnels, making stream scopes to look underwater, and what habitat is needed for these animals. Each school came away with resources including books and a native ground cover plant for creating lizard friendly habitat.