When students arrived back at Totara Park School this year, they could not believe how much their vegetable garden had grown. With such huge harvests, the children were able to have market days, cook the food at school and share the excess with their families.

Read more here about what they have learned and enjoyed most about caring for their crops.

Masterton Mayor Lyn Patterson, came along to present the Bronze Enviroschool certificates to Makoura Community Early Childhood Centre and Pohutukawa Early Learning Centre in February 2018.  She was surprised and delighted by how well informed and well connected the tamariki are across the width of the Enviroschool’s kaupapa.  Read more here

Sally Carson, Director of the Marine Metre Squared project recently facilitated workshops in Porirua & Kāpiti, supported by various local environmental educators including DoC, Enviroschools, Guardians of Kāpiti Marine Reserve, Mountains to Sea and Porirua Harbour Trust. Read more here about the workshops which included exploring & gathering data in the local marine environment to load into the Mm2 database.

In a joint Enviroschools-Pukaha initiative, students from six schools around the district returned to Pukaha to upskill, problem solve, share experiences, repair traps and re-enthuse …  and to admire the sack of slightly-whiffy frozen pests that had been caught in kill traps at Pukaha recently.  Read more here

On the 30th of August 2017 Normandale School ran an “Enviroday” which focused on waste.  Over the course of the day children participated in a range of activities to support them to explore where things comes from, how they are made and packaged and whether they are needed in the first place.  The school’s Envirogroup called the day “Small Changes” as they strongly believe that a  small change, can make a big difference.

See what they did here.

 In May 2017, students from Gladstone School and other community members gathered to plant over 2000 trees at Kourarau Wetland and Dam. The day was a fantastic example of whanaungatanga (being connected)  and kaitiakitanga (acting to take or protect the natural environment). Read more here

Clyde Quay School students are working on a project to help catch pests and make Matairangi / Mount Victoria a safer place for birds to live. Read more here about how the school has joined forces with their wider community to help make Mount Victoria pest free.

A summer event was held in February for a cluster network of six Wellington City ECE Enviroschools centres, who enjoyed the opportunity to gather together for a day of learning about Tuna Kuwharuwharu/Long finned eels in the Otari Bush setting. Read more here about what they learned and then shared with their communities.

Five Secondary schools across the region came together in the Term 1 holidays to look at what being an Enviroschools looks like in a Secondary School context. This hui was an opportunity for these colleges, two of who are already enviroschools, to share action they have been taking in their schools. Enviroschools Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui is looking to extend our secondary school network and this hui took us one step closer to achieving this. Read more here

Read more here about Kuranui College's visit to Kāpiti College last year before they became our second Secondary Enviroschool

 A group of teachers working in schools located in Te Awarua o Porirua Harbour Catchment participated in a Teacher PLD day, predominantly IN the environment, with a focus on supporting students learning experiences in the context of being in our great outdoors.  Read more here

Billie van den Oever & Natasha Polglase were recognised at the Kāpiti College senior prize-giving ceremony in December 2016, as the first recipients of a newly created award - The Jan Cox Memorial Award for Promoting a Better Environment. Read more here about why Kāpiti College have created this award in Jan's honour, and Billie and Natasha's response to receiving it.

Students from four schools in South Wairarapa are learning about and taking action to protect a major biodiversity site in their area.  

Read more here about their collaboration with The Whitebait Connection and Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Enviroschools has supported these local schools to continute their learning by engaging with local restoration projects.  Read more about

how St Teresa's School have helped develop Donald's Creek

and how South Featherston School have collaborated with DoC to make signs alerting people about bird breeding sites around Wairarapa Moana.

Read here about how  Paparārangi Kindergarten celebrated seven years of Tiriti o Waitangi based learning with the installation and blessing of this beautiful new waharoa (gateway) - Ngā Rake Tihauora o Paparārangi

Porirua School have been busy educating their tamariki and the wider community about the importance of using stormwater drains for rain only.  As part of  trialing the  'Drains are for Rain' resource being developed by Enviroschools Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui they have painted a stormwater drain mural at their school, and worked with  Porirua City Council to label drains around their school with labels to remind their community that Drains are ONLY for Rain. Ka Rawe!  Read more about their experience and download our draft version of the resource here 

 In September 2016 St Patrick's Primary reflected as a Green Gold Enviroschool.  Read here about how the Catholic curriculum fits well with the Enviroschools kaupapa

A learning tool, a confidence builder and a catalyst for behaviour change; new bike tracks have made a big impact on resilience at Pinehaven School and have been a natural fit with the Enviroschools Guiding Principles of Sustainable Communities and Learning for Sustainability. Read more here

    He Kākano - Seed exhibition by Raumati South Primary School students is the sixth collaborative children's art and environment project with Mahara Gallery and Ngā Manu Nature Reserve. The students studied the magical qualities of seeds and produced artworks and poetry that were displayed at Mahara Gallery and made into a book.