Each year, Horizons Regional Council provides funding to Enviroschools across the region, supporting projects that embrace environmental sustainability. The Pat Kelly Enviroschools Action fund encourages participant schools/centres to connect with their surroundings and offers tamariki the opportunity to engage more deeply with the Enviroschools kaupapa.
Palmerston North Girls’ High School with their new water tank.
The fund supports a diverse range of projects, but a recurring theme for projects in 2024 was about empowering learners, learning for sustainability, and connecting with their own communities. Many projects focused on growing produce to be used in the school lunches programme, classroom activities, and sharing with whānau and the wider community. Here is a summary of some of those projects.
Both Shannon School and Palmerston North Girls’ High School invested in water tanks ensuring their māra kai (food gardens) could thrive throughout the drier months. This is one area which schools/centres often neglect when planting veges, especially when schools are closed for the summer holidays.
Tangimoana and Bunnythorpe Schools identified that protecting their orchards and vegetable gardens were a priority. Students at Tangimoana designed and helped build a windbreak shelter to protect their exposed vegetable gardens and fruit trees from strong coastal winds which were affecting the growth particularly of their fruit trees.
Bunnythorpe students showing off their bumper crop
In contrast, Bunnythorpe School had a well-established garden and orchard but needed to seek solutions to protect produce from unwanted pests, which included birds, possums and rodents, who were routinely stealing their crops. They decided on purchasing cloche covers, which have worked really well at the moment. The students are continuing to monitor their gardens to see if this solution works.
Ruahine Roslyn Kindergarten and Pahiatua School had visions to refurbish old gardens, with improvements to garden beds and expansions of existing gardens to reset their sustainability efforts.
Taoroa School planting their orchard with local community members
Taoroa School, a rural school in northern Rangitīkei, have a strong community with some local gardening legends, so were delighted to help students to plan and plant an orchard. This project has continued in leaps and bounds, as some community members who had helped with orchard were keen to continue working with the students. Gardening and orchards maintenance is now a regular activity at the school with the support from these community members. (banner photo: Taoroa school planning and developing their orchard)
Inspired by a visiting a local māra kai, students at Tawhero School learnt valuable gardening techniques, medicinal uses of plants, and seed collecting skills, which they have integrated into their own māra, which is now thriving.
Tawhero School’s thriving vege gardens
Tawhero school students learning valuable gardening techniques
Matiere School have also been inspired by the community. A recent visit from the Envirowaste team, where they learned about the benefits of composting, has motivated the school to integrate their vege gardening and composting systems.
Composting has also been on the mind at Hokowhitu School. They had a desire to establish a new triple bay composting system so tamariki could understand the process and benefit of composting. The newly painted bins are now in full use with students involved in collecting food waste, watering and aerating them.
Continuing to expand on sustainability efforts, Brunswick School students planted up a lavender garden and purchased a copper still to extract essential oil for use in homemade goods to sell and share with whānau and the community.
Brunswick students in their lavender gardens
Brunswick school’s copper still to extract essential oils
Through these projects students deepen their understanding of sustainability, connecting with community experts and whānau for support. We are excited to see what new initiatives will come from this year’s applications!