Waikato Montessori students and teachers have a vision to bring the natural bush environment to their school rather than having to go off-site for their learning outside the classroom activities. Students had seen the positive impact of planting kōwhai to attract tui at a school and have also been involved in the Trees for Survival programme for a number of years, seeing the benefits of their planting in local gullies.
Working together last year, a small group of students visited local reserves and the herbarium at Waikato University for inspiration. They wanted to create a dedicated area at school that would allow them to access a bush environment at any time and take their learning outside.
They developed a vision to transform a disused driveway into an outdoor classroom and ngahere. A small group of Year 7 and 8 students worked together on designs and Principal Diane Bhana put together a successful funding application to the WRC Enviroschools Fund for trees and ferns that would help bring the vision to life.
Facilitator Adrienne Grant supported them to select initial structural native trees to plant to provide shelter and shade before planting more tender undergrowth species. In Term 4, the work began with the old gravel from the driveway removed and replaced with a thick layer of mulch to help build up the soil. Students, teachers and willing parents began removing unwanted plants and setting aside useful elements such as paving bricks to be used as edging.
Students marked out pathways to create access and flow and planted a large number of plants.
Reflecting on progress over the winter, Annabelle, one of the students involved remarked, “It’s a transformation!”
The removal of an old cherry tree provided some very useful timber. It was cut into rounds and used as “stepping stones which are very fun to jump across”. The resulting mulch was spread to cover the area has grown lots of fungi fascinating to investigate.
Students celebrate their newly planted, “transformed” outdoor area.
Also within the space is a shade-house they’ve called the “indoor-outdoor garden” for growing frost tender plants.
“It looks really cool, and I’d like to do schoolwork out here,” Annabelle said. “I think it’s pretty beautiful”.
Doug, who has now gone off to Boys High, made a special trip back in winter to have a look at the progress. It’s clear the students are feeling very proud of the area and looking forward to spending more time learning outside.
“It will be really nice to do maths out here and bring books out here to read” they said. “It’s nice and calm and quiet; You’re not always surrounded by people who keep talking. We can hear the tui.”
The area will continue to be developed and be a focal point and source of pride for students. It will help them to learn more about local Waikato plants and wildlife and develop respect for our natural environments. Students have created a plan of what they would like to do next in their outdoor area and they are clearly enjoy sharing it with school whānau and visitors.
“We learned that, with determination and creative vision, our barren gravel area was capable of becoming a beautiful native area. We could transform something that was quite unused into an accessible and educational spot.” Says Principal Diane.
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