Nelson College for Girls campaign around plastic bags started as a class project and has continued and grown into an online petition due to the momentum it is gathering! The girls have also decided to work towards a film which they will then present to the public.
Link into their campaign face book page at 'Time's Up Nick: Plastic Bag Levy’.
Congratulations Golden Bay Kindergarten on achieving Green-Gold reflection!!
Reforestation, edible gardens, embedded Māori perspectives and "reduce, reuse and recycle" have all been a part of daily-life for the Golden Bay Kindergarten since it opened eight years ago. The celebration was a great time to acknowledge the work that goes on day after day with the children.
See more here!
George Harwood, left, Mayor Rachel Reese, Dawttha Kung, Alfaraz Shah, Sterling Cathman (Mr Science), and Klara Bare amongst the herb garden which is part of the Silver Award Enviro project at Victory School in Nelson.
A recycling shed, community vegetable garden and rubbish-free stream all contributed to Victory Primary School being the deserving recipients of a silver enviroschools recognition. Alfarax Shah, George Harwwod, Dawttha Kung and Klara Bare proudly showed Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese around their school before being presented with the award. Speaking to the children Reese congratulated them what they had created.
"I love food, I particularly love vegetables and I'm very impressed that you have such a lot of things growing in that garden. I really like that the schools in Nelson are growing vegetables and fruit from the garden to the table," she said.
Enviroschools encourage self-motivated learning which means the children are the driving force behind changes to their school. A silver recognition takes six years to achieve and only three Nelson primary schools have been awarded one so far. Science teacher Sterling Cathman (Mr. Science) said the programme has been great for the students.
"With enviroschools, the more you learn the more you want to do it. It's great because the kids are proud of themselves," he said.
Reese commended Cathman and the students on their work.
"We're very lucky to have wonderful teachers like Sterling. We have brilliant teacher role models. What I love about these programs is that the children are the leaders. It's founded on kids being enthused and interested. I'm very impressed," she said.
In June, 70 Enviroschools teachers and principals gathered to make the achievement and look to the future with Nelson mayor Rachel Reese, Nelson MP Nick Smith, and Heidi Mardon who is chief executive of the Hamilton-based Toimata Foundation which is the trust working with Enviroschools.
The celebration, with a powhiri, was held at Auckland Point School which is the latest of the 21 Enviroschools in Nelson, which include eight kindergartens as well as primary and intermediate schools and three colleges - Garin, Nayland and Nelson College for Girls.
Regional coordinator for Enviroschools Nelson Lindsey Fish, left, Toimata Foundation chief executive Heidi Mardon and Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese with the new Enviroschools sign
Story & picture above featured in The Nelson Mail.
Nelson Enviroschools were privileged to receive a visit from National Poetry Slam Champion Te Kahu Rolleston, at the end of Term one 2015. Te Kahu, whose official job title is ‘Poet,’ works for Te Aho Tū Roa, part of Toimata Foundation. Fresh from the Pacifica festival, with an audience of 4000 people, we were extremely lucky to have him to work with our youth in Nelson, bringing his gifted brand of cool to inspire envirogroups . After a heros’ welcome where students already knew of his work, he went on to show the power that words can have as a tool to convey a message and initiate behaviour change in a relevant and appealing way to our students.
Te Kahu visited 6 schools, as well as giving a public performance at the Elma Turner Library. Students were fortunate to workshop with him to produce their own poetry related to environmental issues. This also illustrated how it is possible to integrate environmental education within other curriculum areas, such as English, in an over stretched programme. His poetry strikes a chord with everyone who hears it and he also instilled confidence in the students to make some awesome performances of their writing.
A poem by Victor Ruhen from Victory School:
Yeah, as that rain falls down
I am thinking about how…
How much of that counts as a drop of life.
Like the flowers growing,
Like da trees bursting out of the ground…
And then I think of the people who can’t get to water
or rain
their pounding
their praying.
And the joy in their life,
when a drop of precious water hits their tongue.
Water Is Life.
Without water there would not be
Life.
Simon Ashby along with a team of students have been busy re-creating their school garden. Watch their video here!
Tahunanui School Green Ninjas undertook a great project called 'Project Water Saver'.
They followed the Enviroschools action learning cycle approach to identify the current situation, explore alternatives, take action and reflect on change. The result is a fabulous new water system that can collect up to 1000 litres of rain water for their school gardens. Click here for the full report.
Nayland Kindergarten also undertook a fabulous and comprehensive investigation around water conservation, which resulted in a great new water tank for the kindergarten. See here for the full report.
