A collage of ideas for the māra kai.
With a new team of teachers at Redwoodtown Kindergarten and a passion to do more for te taiao (the environment) they invited their Enviroschools facilitator Ramona in, to re-engage the kindergarten with the Enviroschools kaupapa.
They started with getting familiar with the Enviroschools Guiding Principles. They then identified all that they were already doing, as well as some areas that they would like to strengthen. This then led them to looking at their environment and brainstorm how they would like the place to look, feel and sound. The combination of this information supported the team to develop and identify areas to take action.
Some of the key areas identified were:
- Strengthening community relationships
- Growing their cultural awareness
- Growing/providing kai for whānau
- Reducing the amount of waste at the kindergarten
The pātaka set up at the entrance for community sharing.
Pātaka
The team didn’t delay in getting stuck into making changes. One of their first actions was to set up a pātaka kai with a beautiful sign ‘Take What You Need, Leave What You Can’.
This stand sits at the entrance to their kindergarten and provides an opportunity to share excess kai. It started with the produce grown at the kindergarten and whānau contributing, and has now expanded to receive community contributions – Redwoodtown Woolworths being a key contributor as well as Haven cafe.
Growing kai
The tamariki have also been actively involved in planting vegetables around the kindergarten. They use their own compost to replenish their gardens. They are responsible for watering and caring for the plants. This has included looking for green caterpillars on the brassicas, as well as writing their own signs to identify what has been planted. This produce is often shared on the pātaka or used in cooking and baking.
Sparking awareness and curiosity.
Community relationships and cultural awareness
To strengthen their community relationships and transition to school programme they have been going on weekly excursions to Redwoodtown School. Groups of children have also been visiting Oliver Park. Here they take the time to connect with nature by fossicking and exploring for natural treasures – leaves, pinecones, insects, feathers and much more.
Whānau and other community members have been coming in to share about their culture through waiata, kai and traditional dress.
Reducing waste
Whilst continuing to embed all of these amazing experiences into their programme, the team are now embarking on a journey to explore how to reduce waste within their kindergarten. The teachers have been identifying with tamariki what waste is, where it is currently going, and what else could be done.
They have also started collecting their waste to see how much is produced and plan to do a waste audit. A group of children took the soft plastics that they had been collecting from their lunchboxes (205 grams) to the collection point at Woolworths Redwoodtown to be recycled into fence posts.
What a busy time they have had at Redwoodtown Kindergarten making inspiring changes for the better of their community and te taiao.
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