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This termly newsletter celebrates and shares the work of our West Coast Enviroschools. It also includes key dates, events, and professional development opportunities.
Please share with your staff and whanau and encourage them to subscribe to the newsletter.
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Kia ora koutou
I hope this newsletter finds you well and warm.
Some people think of this time of the year as a downer – shorter days, cold weather, and washing that never dries. But if we take the hint from nature it's a very special opportunity. Take the time to pause, reflect, and gather energy before the upward and outward momentum of spring is on the doorstep.
It has been wonderful to be part of celebrating with our Enviroschools this term. Amongst Matariki/Puanga gatherings, hui and workshops, holistic reflection celebrations, Whole School Vision sessions, and celebrations of learning, it has been inspiring to see the range and depth of learning and action occurring in our West Coast Enviroschools network.
We’d like to share a selection of some of these events with you to inspire and motivate you for Term 3. Please also check the calendar for upcoming events and dates.
Happy holidaying on behalf of the West Coast Enviroschools team
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Nga mihi nui,
Zoe Watson
Enviroschools West Coast Regional Coordinator & Facilitator
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Paroa Shares Sustainable Actions with Community
Paroa School have been inspiring change in their community with their impressive efforts to share their learning and action.
The whole school has been immersed in learning about sustainability and their local environment. Each class has nominated an action project that they will plan, design and implement to create a more sustainable school.
The Enviro Warriors invited parents, Grey District Council, and Enviroschools to be part of their celebration assembly where each class presented their learning and action so far – creating playground equipment from old tyres, reviving the school gardens, storm-water awareness, reducing lunch-box packaging, learning the history of their local place, and creating healthy compost and worm farm systems.
A regular Enviroschools colomn has been established in their school newsletter with each class taking turns submitting a story.
Teacher Jody Boulding said, “Our newly made Enviroschools timeline will be displayed in our front office area. This will show the journey we have been on since we started being an Enviroschool in 2017.”
If you'd like to find out more about Paroa School's Enviroschools work, head to their website to read their newsletters.
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Left to Right: Action Learning Cycle to plan projects; Paroa's Visual Journey
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Passionate Parents Leading Action at Kidsfirst Hokitika
The teaching team at Kidsfirst Kindergartens Hokitika is counting their lucky stars - a motivated team of parents has joined forces to support environmental initiatives.
The group which meets approximately every 6 weeks, have already started a Zero Waste fundraiser and have other exciting actions in the pipeline - pruning, building a mud kitchen, planting in the greenhouse, and holding a beeswax-wrap making workshop for whanau.
They capture their meeting minutes in a beautiful scrapbook placed at the entrance of Kindy.
Keen to harness support from your centre/school community? Chat to your facilitator about ideas.
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Kidsfirst Hokitika Parent Meeting Notes and Ideas
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Kai Carrier Fundraiser awareness poster, created by parents.
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Reefton Area School Soars to Silver
Reefton Area School’s focus on deepening and integrating sustainability throughout school life has paid off. The Enviro Rangers supported by their teachers and facilitators all agreed that they fit the descriptors of being a Silver Enviroschool and they are happy and proud to share this with their community.
The following was submitted by their Enviro Rangers
"On Arbor Day, we had our Silver celebration. We invited community members that helped us on our journey to becoming a Silver Enviroschool.
We all planted a manoao (silver pine) that had been gifted to us by Zoe and Sarah. Some children from Reefton Early Learning Centre helped us to plant it. This was followed by a shared morning tea. We showed a small clip of things that we are proud of in our school such as the waste stations, compost bins, the edible garden and the ngahere (forest).
We are working very hard to improve and sustain these newer additions to our school, in order to better our school and our community.
We are all very proud of what we have achieved over the past year and a half."
Congratulations to you Reefton Area School!
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Enviro Rangers ready to get their hands dirty.
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Bokashi Bonanza - Kidsfirst Karoro Tracking Changes
Thanks to lead teacher Nina Reesen-Fischer for sharing this learning story with us.
"How much Bokashi waste is being created at Kindy? Before we dug our full 10 litres of 'pickled' Bokashi mixture into our vege bed at Kindy, Indie helped weigh the contents. Approximately 6 kilos of organic food waste, predominately from left over lunch box food, and kitchen waste that can't go to Bonny and Charlie, our residential heihei/chooks.
Wow! This is super exciting, because this waste is feeding our garden, instead of going straight to landfill. In Term 3 we will document the exact amount of Bokashi waste that we create."
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Indie weighing the bokashi at Kidsfirst Karoro Kindergarten
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Local Staff Professional Development a Hit!
The Enviroschools team have been busy providing cluster meetings and workshops during Term 1 & 2. Among the offerings snapped up by local teachers: Exploring the Enviroschools Programme, Whole Centre/School Visions, Sustainable Project Planning, and Reflect for Change.
It has been wonderful to have such robust turnouts with some schools/centres sending teams and Principals. Make sure you diarise the dates for Term 3.
"It's so great to see the teaching teams huddled around doing some amazing work on Environmental Education. I was inspired to make our learning more visible to parents and whanau." - Raelene Johnson
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Kaniere School staff in action at the Sustainable Project Planning cluster meeting.
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Woohoo! We're so Proud!
Heidi Mardon, founding director of Enviroschools has been awarded membership to NZ Order of Merit. This is for her contribution to the field of Environmental Education for Sustainability over the past 20 years.
Read more here
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Enviroschools Cluster Meetings Term 3
Term 3 meetings will be tailored to each cluster. Open to all Enviroschools staff (ECE and Primary).
Date & Time:
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Grey & Westland 5 September 4-7pm, venue TBC
Topic - DOC and ES - Environmental Education
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Westport 11 September 4-5:30pm, venue & topic TBC
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Reefton 12 September 3:30-5pm, venue & topic TBC
Cost: Free, with light refreshments provided
RSVP: Please email your name and any food requirements to your facilitator
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Nature Needs Us - Conservation Week 14-22 September
The Department of Conservation are running a competition for school aged children on the West Coast as part of the 50th anniversary of Conservation Week. This year Conservation Week is the 14th to 22nd of September.
To enter just share your nature story with DOC! The story must include: 1. A memorable experience you’ve had in NZ nature, AND, 2.) Details of what you will do in the next 12 months to help NZ nature.
You can enter with a written story, photos, video, artwork or a combination of any of the above. Entries close 31st August 2019. So there’s plenty of time to work on your entries over the school holidays.
For more information email naturestory@doc.govt.nz to get a list of the full terms and conditions of entry.
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Science Education Hui
Greymouth, 30 September
Looking for science inspiration? This one-day course is for primary and secondary teachers.
Featuring: Hands-On Workshops • Meet and Greet • Resource Pop Ups
For more information and to register online please visit www.trcc.org.nz call 0800 872211 email info@trcc.org.nz
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Schools Encouraged to Apply for Canon's Environmental Grant
Need some coin to bring your vision alive? Open to New Zealand schools, not-for-profits and community groups, to apply for a grant of over $15,000 in cash and technology to further their cause and make a difference to both environmental and societal issues in their communities.
Submissions are until Monday 29 July, then the public will be able to vote on the finalists in August, and the winners will be announced in September.
For more information about Canon Oceania’s Grants Program 2019, please visit: https://www.canon.co.nz/about-canon/community/grants
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Follow Us on Instagram!
Enviroschools now has an Instagram account @enviroschoolsnz . Please add #enviroschools on posts being put up on social media and visit our page for nationwide inspiration.
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