23 schools share $20,000 Northland Regional Council awards

26 June 2013

23 schools share $20,000 NRC awards

Projects involving everything from disappearing native frogs to re-emerging kiwi are among 25 school initiatives to share this year’s $20,000 Northland Regional Council Environmental Curriculum Awards (ECAs).

The annual awards aim to foster excellence in environmental education, with schools eligible for up to $2000 each for their efforts to educate children ‘in, about and for’ the region’s environment.

This year a record 23 recipients will receive between $200 and $1700 each for their 25 projects.

Regional councillors Bill Rossiter and Bronwyn Hunt – who selected this year’s winners – were impressed by the scope and quality of projects which will see the enthusiastic involvement of hundreds of people across entire school communities.

Councillor Rossiter says the ECAs recognise and support the environmental education efforts put in by more than 2200 Northland students in 140 classes and/or school student environmental groups.

“It’s also great to once again see a good geographic spread with eight of our winning schools based in the Far North, 11 in the Whangarei district and four in Kaipara,” Cr Hunt says.

Projects include one from a tiny school west of Whangarei which will play a valuable role in the region’s kiwi conservation efforts, another in Ohaeawai which aims to encourage native frogs back into local waterways and a third at Opua which hopes to provide more families with laying hens to develop sustainable backyards.

A full list of the winning schools and GST exclusive funding for their projects follows:

Blomfield Special School - Manaia View Satellite
Project: Papa Takaro Pai Ako - Making a Great Learning Playground
Funding: $900 Contact: Valola Allmark (09) 438 2105
Funding towards creating a multi-faceted sensory learning playground for its autistic special need students at Blomfield Special School’s satellite campus at Manaia View School.

Dargaville Intermediate
Project: Minimising waste at Dargaville Intermediate
Funding: $700 Contact: Diane Papworth (09) 439 8045
Funding towards a woodchipper for the school’s minimising waste project. The whole school's involved through speciality environmental classes with 190 plus students aged 11 - 13 across 10 speciality environmental education classes.

Herekino School
Project: Our Future Investment
Funding: $1700 Contact: Hazel Abraham (09) 409 3834
Funding towards boosting students as schoolground kaitiaki through setting up a school orchard and raised vegetable gardens. The gardens are being planted and managed in line with the Maori calendar, which is governed by the moon and stars.

Kaitaia College
Project: Wai Restoration
Funding: $1000 Contact: Mike Bryan (09) 408 0190
Funding towards fencing materials and equipment to be used for teaching school-based fencing as part of secondary students achieving their educational and NCEA qualification goals. Students will use fencing skills to work with local farmers to fence off their farm rivers and streams, helping to protect water quality.

Kamo Intermediate
Project: Islands of Life 2013
Funding: $400 Contact: Jan O'Connor (09) 435 0343
Funding towards replenishing and further developing the school’s long term Islands of Life project. This year's award focuses on boosting the project's native plantings and replenishing its pond.

Mangakahia Area School
Project: Shadehouse Construction
Funding: $900 Contact: Merryn Robinson (09) 433 1702
Funding towards a shadehouse to grow eco-sourced plants for local riparian planting as part of improving water quality and in turn tuna (eel) habitat.

Maungakaramea School
Project: Greenhouse
Funding: $500 Contact: Kath Edwards (09) 432 3804
Funding towards boosting schoolground horticulture with a greenhouse for growing native plants to attract native birds to the school grounds and an orchard to provide sustainable food for the wider community.

Maungaturoto School
Project: MPS Enviroschools Garden Project
Funding: $800 Contact: Megan Smyth (09) 431 8109
Funding towards starting class gardens to produce food, seedlings and native plants.

Ohaeawai School
Project: Taiamai Frogs - Life in Our Waters
Funding: $1000 Contact: Lee Whitelaw (09) 405 9812
The Taiamai Frogs project will see the school's shadehouse extended to grow native riparian plants to plant out along local farm riversides in a bid to help restore waterways and native frog habitat. It comes after students noticed a lack of frogs in their area.

Okaihau College
Projects: Kara o Tai Tokerau and Plant Propagation
Funding: $1100 School phone: (09) 401 9030
Contacts: Karen Paraone (Kara O Tai Tokerau), Lynne Couling-Brown (Plant Propagation)
Funding towards two projects; ‘Kara O Tai Tokerau’ ($800) to help fund creation of a series of 10 themed banner flags with local community, historial, environmental and cultural themes and ‘Plant Propagation’ ($300) which focuses on propagating native plants for the school and beyond with the future possibility of planting these along the Pou Herenga Tai - the Twin Coast Cycle Trail.

Opua School
Project: What comes first; the chicken or the egg?
Funding: $1600 Contact: Karen Young (09) 402 7840
Funding towards building a new chook house as part of upgrading and expanding the school's chicken production enterprise. Project aims include providing more families with laying hens to develop sustainable backyards. Other hands-on sustainability education at the school includes worm farming, bees and gardening

Oruaiti School
Project: Te Mahinga Kai o Te Kura o Oruaiti
Funding: $500 Contact: Jan Hobbs (09) 406 0300
Funding towards kickstarting replenishment and extension of the school's fruit and vegetable production and waste management programmes.

Otaika Valley School
Project: Beautifying Butterfly Garden
Funding: $400 Contact: Eden Hakaraia (09) 432 2731
Funding towards creating all-weather mosaic pathways to the school's existing butterfly and vegetable gardens.

Pakaraka School
Project: Manu Kai
Funding: $900 Contact: Christine Sweetapple (09) 405 9608
Funding towards a multi-purpose planting of native trees and flax along the school's southern boundary. The many puposes include adding a native bird food forest stepping stone to the district and schoolground noise buffering from adjacent State Highway One traffic.

Parua Bay School
Projects: Parua Bay School Wildlife Pathway 2013 and Gardening for our Future
Funding: $1100 Contact: Gail Green (09) 436 5814
Funding towards strengthening two projects; ‘Wildlife Pathway 2013’ and ‘Gardening for our Future’. The first will see an irrigation system installed for summer watering of eco-sourced native plants grown for the school's Wildlife Pathway; the second involves the school working to provide all its 10 classrooms with their own raised garden bed.

Purua School
Project: Kiwi Corridor
Funding: $1200 Contact: Sophia Green (09) 433 5841
Funding towards boosting schoolground habitat for local kiwi. These play a key role in ongoing Northland efforts to boost the bird’s population, via Whangarei’s Matakohe/Limestone Island kiwi creche.

Ruawai College
Project: Enviro Warriors
Funding: $1400 Contact: Liz Haines (09) 439 2216
Funding towards a shadehouse for native plant propagation to grow endangered and other native plants for riparian planting along local waterways to improve the quality of water flowing into Kaipara Harbour.

St Francis Xavier School
Project: School Orchard/Jesus Garden
Funding: $900 Contact: Sara Cash (09) 437 1039
Funding towards setting up an orchard to build on the school's ever-growing horticultural enterprise. The orchard will include a Jesus garden feature; an area for quiet contemplation.

Springbank School
Project: Springbank Multi-Trail
Funding: $600 Contact: Lynne Alexander (09) 407 5236
Funding towards developing riparian planting areas along part of the school's new multi-activity trails.

Tangiteroria School
Project: Tangiteroria School Sustainable Orchard
Funding: $200 Contact: Braden Eades (09) 433 2635
Funding towards extending the school's three-year-old sustainable orchard. Among the many benefits of this include more food for bees in schoolground beehives, enabling the hives to live longer.

Te Kura o Otangarei
Project: Save Our Water Project
Funding: $1500 Contact: Ngapoko Ashford (09) 437 0623
Funding towards a 3000 litre rainwater harvesting tank to gather water from the school's roofs for watering estabished school gardens, orchard and native planting.

Whangarei Heads School
Project: Fern Valley Dreaming - Part 2
Funding: $350 Contact: Sally Prince (09) 434 0844
Funding towards adding non-skid netting to the school's six-year-old bush boardwalk (set up with an earlier ECA grant) to improve student safety.

Whangarei Primary School
Project: Pond Power
Funding: $350 Contact: Lynda Foster (09) 438 3186
Funding towards native plants and fencing as part of creating a schoolground freshwater pond habitat for boosting biodiversity and providing ongoing integrated student learning.

ENDS

© Scoop Media