Council Environmental Education Consultant Susan Karels says 10 Northland schools are being funded for 12 diverse projects ranging from the tree and bird sanctuary to water quality monitoring, environmental website design and worm farming.
Mrs Karels says the annual award aims to foster excellence in environmental education with schools eligible for up to $2000 each for their efforts to educate children in, about and for the region’s environment.
“The Council was particularly impressed with the quality and range of the projects submitted for funding this year.”
Mrs Karels says the award aims to encourage schools and communities to actively participate in efforts to improve their environment.
“It’s exciting to see how students, teachers, principals, boards of trustees and wider school communities are increasingly looking for ways to take care of our special Northland environment.”
Schools sought just over $12,500 in total this year and were awarded amounts varying from $342.42 requested by Whangarei’s St Francis Xavier School to two schools (Whangarei Girls High and Onerahi Primary) that each received the maximum $2000.
Award recipients are:
Tikipunga High School, Kamo Intermediate School, Oruaiti School, Whangarei Girls High School, Onerahi Primary School, St Francis Xavier School, Bream Bay College, Hurupaki Primary School, Okaihau Primary School, Ahipara School.
Mrs Karels says the award-winning schools demonstrated ways they were putting effort into sustainably managing Northland’s natural and physical resources, a key Regional Council goal.
Enhancement and protection of biodiversity could also be seen.
“Managing waste to minimise its impact on the land, sea, air and water is another Council value clearly demonstrated in several of the successful schools’ work.”
Media note - picture opportunities:
Regional Councillors will be travelling to winning schools to present them with their awards during late July and August. To arrange photographs, or for more information about the schools and their projects, please contact the following award winners:
Tikipunga High School
Project: Bio Area/100% Pure
Contact: Ms Sandy Murphy and Ms Jo Hoeberechts (teachers) ph (09) 437 3299
Tikipunga High School is being granted $1058.91 to construct a potting shed for native plant propagation and a worm farm in its ‘bio area’. The award money will also go towards a native senses garden for the Sinclair Centre – the school’s special resources unit for students with severe intellectual and physical disabilities.
Kamo Intermediate School
Project one: Islands of Life
Project two: Green Dream
Project three: Harakeke
Contact: Ms Jan O’Connor (teacher) ph (09) 435 0343
Kamo Intermediate School is being granted $515.54 to purchase a digital camera and memory stick to help create a website and photograph the ‘Islands of Life’, ‘Green Dream’ and ‘Harakeke’ environmental projects. The award will also help students ‘tell the story’ of the school’s environmental programme to other schools and interested parties, photograph students ‘in action’, create a pamphlet and photographic display for the Whangarei Garden Discovery Tour and produce a laminated photo collection for a future project, the ‘Info. Hut’.
Oruaiti School
Project one: Pingao Planting
Project two: Native Tree Planting
Project three: Water Quality Monitoring
Contact: Ms Mary Ralph (teacher), ph (09) 433 8545
Oruaiti School is being granted $484.09 for three environmental projects;
- to grow pingao from seed in the school’s shade house, repot them as needed and plant at local beaches
- to buy one-year old native seedlings to grow-on in the school’s shade house, repot, and then plant into a new field area in school grounds
- to further a stream study and water quality testing programme that is part of the NIWA National Waterways Project.
Whangarei Girls High School
Project: Kiwi in Danger (protecting indigenous habitats and biological diversity)
Contact: Ms Sally-Anne Daniell (teacher) ph (09) 430 4400
Whangarei Girls High School is being awarded $2000 to buy a GPS, digital camera and digital video camera to extend its kiwi studies and to aid it to take action to help restore and enhance the survival of the kiwi and its habitat.
In the classroom and on camp, students will learn about and experience sustainable living, work with the Tutukaka Landcare Group and Whitebait Connection programme, participate in animal pest trapping, track and access work, indigenous forest monitoring and stream management and monitoring and create a visual electronic document about their learning ‘in’, ‘for’ and ‘about’ the environment, that they will present to a school assembly. On camp, students will also plant indigenous trees on kiwi inhabited land, as part of their taking action ‘for’ the environment. The GPS, digital camera and digital video will be used in subsequent Year 11-13, (Forms 5-7) Environmental Studies classes.
Onerahi Primary School
Project: Native Tree and Bird Sanctuary
Contact: Mrs Lynne Power (teacher) ph (09) 436 0521
Onerahi Primary School is being granted $2000 to develop its Native Tree and Bird Sanctuary by marking out pathways, mulching existing indigenous trees in the area, planting new indigenous plants and removing non-native plants in the stage two area of their environmental project. To date, the students have visited a local native bush area, produced an action plan and a map of their proposed indigenous bush area and researched suitable plants for the area and for bird food. They will also present their action plan and map to the Board of Trustees, whole school and local community for consultation purposes.
St Francis Xavier School
Project: SFX Recycle Champs
Contact: Mrs Lynn Douglas (teacher) ph (09) 437 1039
St Francis Xavier School is being granted $342.42 to set up a recycling centre incorporating worm farms and composting bins. Students have begun paper and cardboard recycling in conjunction with the WDC’s new kerbside recycling initiative and have had a visiting speaker from Slash Trash to talk about worm farming and composting. Next the students plan to carry out research into worms and worm farms, participate in recycling lessons from Northland Polytechnic students, design their own mini worm farms and set up 2 school worm farms and 2 compost bins.
During Term 3 the students will carry out ongoing maintenance of their worm farms and compost bins and conduct a survey to ascertain waste management practices as compared to Term 2. The students are also entered into the ‘Whangarei Garden Discovery’ when they will invite the public to view their recycling centre and explain their waste management strategies.
Bream Bay College
Project: Native Islands
Contact: Mrs Andrea Chase (teacher) ph (09) 432 8226
Bream Bay College is being granted $964.33 to enhance a large area in its school grounds by creating and taking ownership of a native island. After in-depth learning about plant communities and local ecosystems, students will design plans for a native island, present the ‘winning’ plan to Board of Trustees members, school assembly and the local community via the school newsletter. Students will physically implement their plan and then celebrate with a public opening ceremony. Once completed, the native island will be used for educational and recreational purposes.
Hurupaki Primary School
Project: Wetland Wonderland
Contact: Julie Holt (teacher) ph (09) 435 0733
Hurupaki Primary School is being granted $1338.94 to further develop its ‘Wetland Wonderland’ environmental project. It will complete action plans and form into action groups for three large planting areas. Two are specifically wetland areas, on both sides of the pond. The third planting area is a land area adjacent to one of the wetland areas, where exotic plants have been removed. The students plan to carry out layered planting in this area with native trees, shrubs and ground covers.
Okaihau Primary School
Contact: Mrs Lesley Standish-Wing (teacher), ph (09) 401 9151
Okaihau Primary School is being granted $1698.92 to environmentally enhance an area of school grounds to solve problems of noise, exhaust fumes and traffic movement adjacent to its play area. Students will discuss how planting could help with their environmental issue, help design a plan of the ‘area-to-be’ incorporating plants of varying heights and hardiness, pathways, assembly stage, rocks, bird-feeding table and bird bath. They will present their plan to the Board of Trustees and local community, invite the local community to become involved in preparing the area and help with planting and, upon completion, carry out a survey of the school and community of the effectiveness of their environmental project.
Ahipara School
Project: Wanting Ahipara’s Infected River Open Again (W.A.I.R.O.A.)
Contact: Ms Andrea Panther (teacher), ph (09) 409 4702
Ahipara School is being granted $1930 to further its Wairoa River water quality project. The School’s Community Problem Solving student group has been working on improving the water quality of the river for the past year. The group has set up the Ahipara Landcare group, have begun work on a long term fencing and riparian planting plan, carry out regular water quality testing and developed a web page. Due to the continuing popularity of the river for swimming, the students have realised the importance of informing their community of the health of the river, indicating changes in water quality. They plan to erect a billboard showing the date the water quality was last tested, a movable arrow to show ‘safe/risk/unsafe’ and ‘make a difference’ action statements.