A third of all New Zealand schools are now part of our network.  In total numbers there are many more primary schools involved, however,  looking at the percentage participating by schooling level shows that intermediate and secondary schools are taking up Enviroschools in similar proportions to primary schools.   Participation from the large early childhood sector has been increasing in recent years and is now at 5%.

While not shown on the graphs, special schools are also reasonably well represented with 18% being part of the network.

Schools from all the decile groups are active participants in Enviroschools.  In comparison with the national proportions in each decile, only deciles 1 and 2 are slightly under-represented in our network.  Looking back to 2008,  there was a skew towards participation from schools in deciles 6 and above, but this has changed significantly over the intervening years.  The results from the 2014 Evaluation showed that the ways the programme works in a school and the outcomes resulting were consistent across the different deciles.

Note: The Ministry of Education defines deciles as follows: “A school’s decile indicates the extent to which the school draws its students from low socio-economic communities. Decile 1 schools are the 10% of schools with the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic communities, whereas decile 10 schools are the 10% of schools with the lowest proportion of these students.”

The table below shows how the regional support network for the Enviroschools Programme that has developed since it was launched as a nationally available programme in 2001.   These organisations employ and/or fund local teams made up of a Regional Coordinator and one or more Facilitators  who support the programme in each region.

Leadership from Local Government has been key to the development of a strong nation-wide network.  A diverse range of organisations are grouped as ‘Community Partners’, this includes DOC Conservancy and Area offices, Kindergarten Associations, branches of the Rural Education Activities Programme (REAP), environmental trusts and businesses.    

 ¹ The number of councils in New Zealand changed on 1 November 2010 with merger of 1 regional council, 4 city councils and 3 district councils to form the new Auckland Council, that is classified as a unitary authority.

² The Education for Sustainability Advisers, employed through the six Schools of Education, were a key part of the Enviroschools network until they were disbanded by the Ministry of Education at the end of 2009.