Kia ora koutou

Its hard to believe we are approaching term four already. It has been another busy one celebrating some amazing achievements with our first secondary school and ECE celebrating at Green Gold level for Enviroschools. 

We have held a Sustainability Hui, Conservation Week events and a few teacher PD workshops.

We are looking forward to seeing some sunshine again and enjoying some outdoor activities - as always if you are looking for support to help connect your students to explore their local environment please contact us to find out how we can help.

Mā te wā

Sarah & Christina

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Conservation stars in the making

Conservation Week 2023 saw some awesome collaborations with other organisations across our region to take action for nature.

In Palmerston North we partnered with Central Energy Trust Wildbase Recovery Centre to run two events at the centre and surrounding Victoria Esplanade, which were also supported by the Department of Conservation (DOC), Menzshed, Palmerston North City Council and Rangitāne o Manawatū. Selected schools were invited to a special event on the Friday with the public attending a conservation whānau day on the Saturday. Activities on offer were pest animal trap building, bird care, learning about pest animals, native bats and lizards, plant propagation, and tours of the Wildbase center.

Over in Whanganui, Bushy Park Tarapuruhi was the location of our annual conservation week collaboration for schools with DOC, Whanganui Regional Museum, Sarjgent Art Gallery, educators from Bushy Park Tarapuruhi , Enviroschools and Kiwi Conservation Club. Although rain didn’t allow all schools to attend their day of activities, those who came along learnt about wetands, predator control, matauranga Māori in the native bush, nature art amongst other things.

Teachers taking action for sustainability

It was great to see so many teachers join us for a ‘Taking Action for Sustainability’ hui held at Te Manawa. Over 20 attended with many not involved in the Enviroschools programme.

Teachers connected with a range of sustainability/environmental providers, heard from other schools/centres on their sustainability practices, collected tips and takeaway activities on a range of sustainability themes, and connected with each other. Activities on offer included growing microgreens, tomato and potato seed saving, exploring our education kits, a tour of Te Manawa programmes, and making pallet compost bins.

We have been looking at how we can support non-Enviroschools in sustainability mahi, and this was our first foray into this. We hope to connect regularly with this group (and others who want to come long).

College Street Normal students tackle water quality

Students at College Street Normal School have been exploring water quality in term two, and the effects water quality can have on native biodiversity and the overall health and wellbeing of anyone that uses it.

They started by looking at testing the school pool water, they then decided they wanted to compare these results with their local awa - the Manawatū River, so they planned a visit to Ahimate Reserve.

Students used the Waiora Stream Study kit to run tests including temperature, pH, flow and clarity, as well as looking in-depth at the habitat around the awa. The favourite activity was looking for invertebrates and they were excited to find lots of mayflies and a few uncased caddis, which are a positive indicator of stream health.

Students followed up this learning by presenting in a whole school assembly, and sharing everything they had learnt, including demonstrating how to use the equipment.

Kai pai 

ENVIROSCHOOLS

Green Gold Achievements

Enviroschools in our region had two big highlights in Term 3. We had two Green Gold celebration events for Palmerston North Girls' High School and Ruahine Linton Kindergarten. These are our first Green Gold Enviroschools in the secondary and early childhood education sectors.

Being a Green Gold Enviroschool means that sustainability is at the heart of everything they do 💚

Read all about their sustainability journeys below.

PNGHS  - It Takes a Team to Make The Dream

Ruahine Linton Kindergarten - Worms, Waterways, Waste, Wool and Wonderful Whānau.

Congratulations to......

Also a big congratulations to Ruahine Foxton Kindergarten and Managaweka School who both reflected to Bronze.

Tino pai 💚

IDEAS & RESOURCES

Teacher Pest Animal workshop

Our next two teacher professional developments were held last term, when we were joined by 20 teachers at two hui across the region to unpack our new Pest Animal Tracking and Trapping Kit. At the workshops held in Manawatū and Taumarunui teachers learnt how pest animals have impacted our native species and changed the NZ conservation landscape, and were able to look through the contents of the kit and discuss how they could use them with their students

Schools/centres are able to borrow these and other education kits  for free.

To book email education@horizon.govt.nz

Becoming Litter Intelligence Experts

A few brave teachers ventured out in the wet weather these holidays to participate in our Litter Intelligence Workshop with Sustainable Coastlines.

We meet at Foxton Beach School for a rundown on the programme and why it's so important to collect this type of data. Despite the wind and the rain we managed to get to the beach to learn how to set up and run a survey and record rubbish in an audit. We then added the data we collected to the national database.

The data collected all over the country has an impact over time and helps to change behaviour, check out some amazing stories of how some schools have made a difference in their local communities.

We will be looking to run more of these workshops so if you are interested in learning more about this programme email us and we can keep you updated on the next one.

Open Day at Tōtara Reserve

We are celebrating the reopening of Tōtara Reserve campgrounds for the season so come join us.

Free buses are available to and from the event, just register on www.eventfinda.co.nz to secure your spot.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Horizons Environmental Education Hub Facebook Group

You may have noticed we have changed the name of our Facebook group. We want to be able to support all teachers in their environmental education mahi and not just those who are part of our Enviroschools Programme.

You will find us under Horizons Environmental Education Hub - This closed group is a platform to share all your  awesome mahi and resources. Its also a place to ask questions or share recommendations.

So if you are not a member already join up now.