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A TREEmendous Outdoor Learning Area

In November last year we received the exciting news that part of the school is to receive a “TREEmendous” makeover, thanks to Mazda NZ and Project Crimson awarding us a $10,000 TREEmendous event to create an outdoor learning area.  Stanhope Road School is one of four New Zealand schools selected for the 2020 TREEmendous School programme. For more information about TREEmendous head to http://treemendous.org.nz/ Our TREEmendous area was designed by year 7 and 8 student members of the Eco-Warriors group. They imagined an area filled with native plants to create habitat and food for native birds, lizards, and insects, as well as a wildflower meadow for our bees, a vegetable garden and some fruit trees. There is also a water wheel that fills a tank with rainwater, timber teepees for native plants to grow over and for children to sit inside, bird houses, insect hotels and huge logs for sitting on and an outdoor blackboard for creativity and learning. On Friday the 31st of July we had a won
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Puāwaitanga's Investigations into how we can 'Make our Community GREAT!'

Puāwaitanga have been buzzing with investigations that looked at different ways we can help to ‘Make our Community GREAT!’ Take a look at what we’ve been up to. Room 16 has been looking at ways to improve our community to make it GREAT. We gathered information about organic methods to spray the weeds at our school and then we made a hypothesis before we began our testing. There were varying degrees of success, and one of the most effective ways of eradicating weeds was a mixture of vinegar, salt and water. As part of Room 17 ’s Inquiry learning this term, students were fortunate enough to spend a morning with Sarah Slater from Watercare, learning lots about water quality in our local streams and waters. Students were shown how to test the quality of water using pH and nitrate indicators, and were also able to identify how the effect of pollution can impact the water quality and animal life in our local  streams. Room 18 has been using our overarching theme, ‘What
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Enviro Update - February 2020

We have got many enviro initiatives going on  in the school to start the year, with more to  come. Here is a snapshot of what is happening  so far: The Eco-Warriors have started working towards the our TREEmendous outdoor learning area event  to be held on the 8th and 9th of May. They are currently designing some of the elements of the space,  including a creative water wheel. The school has committed to communicating digitally with families, which is a great way to  drastically reduce paper and ink use in our school, saving money and easing pressure on the  resources of our planet. Tupuranga students are taking ownership of their vegetable gardens and have started off by planting  seeds to grow in their gardens. Growing kai is a great way to develop our hauora: our physical, mental  and emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing. Room 9 had a great time  digging up potatoes last  week and enjoyed a potato  feast. It was like searching  for buried treasure, with the  added
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Aroha for Australia - Mufti Day

We held an 'Aroha for Australia' fundraiser mufti day on Friday the 14th of February to raise funds for the bushfire relief effort. It was great to be able to take action to help support our Australian neighbours during this catastrophic time.  A special thank you  to our community  for supporting our  Australian bushfire m ufti day, we raised a  fantastic $585.10! Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectives are valued for the knowledge and insight that they bring, and they are supported to take action for real change. - The principle of  Learning for Sustainability  recognises the types of teaching and learning that foster student empowerment, decision-making, action and sustainable outcomes. -  Respect for the   Diversity of People and Cultures  acknowledges the unique gifts, contributions and perspectives of indi
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Honey Harvest

Our Stanhope bees have been very busy over the summer! On the 1st of February our beekeepers collected 35 frames of honey from our two beehives.  The next day, they extracted the honey out of the frames and bottled a massive 56kg of Stanhope  Road School raw honey! We have jars of this honey available for sale in the school office for $12 per jar, with proceeds going  towards our school. It is delicious honey and exciting to think that it was made with nectar collected from flowers  growing at school and in the many gardens in our community, perhaps even yours! Enviroschools Principles in action here: - The principle of  Learning for Sustainability  recognises the types of teaching and learning that foster student empowerment, decision-making, action and sustainable outcomes. -  Sustainable Communities  act in ways that nurture people and nature, now and in the future, to maintain the health and viability of our environment, society, culture and economy.
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Walk & Collect Weekend

During the weekend of the 7th & 8th December, learners from Stanhope set out for a walk with their whanau to collect a bag of rubbish from their local community. This was part of the Walk & Collect Weekend:  https://facebook.com/events/s/walk-collect-weekend/521941935297547/?ti=icl  We felt great doing something to help our planet breathe and the best part is that collectively we made a real difference! Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectives are valued for the knowledge and insight that they bring, and they are supported to take action for real change. -  Sustainable Communities  act in ways that nurture people and nature, now and in the future, to maintain the health and viability of our environment, society, culture and economy.
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Enviroschools Celebration

We have been an Enviroschool for six months now and are really  excited with the progress we have made and the possibilities for  next year and beyond. Some highlights have included the arrival  of our beehives, the fruit trees that each class planted and our  vegetable growing, harvesting and eating. Three representatives from Room 17 attended the Enviroschools  Celebration day last Friday, where there were displays from other  schools which was really inspirational and gave us lots of ideas  for what we could achieve at our school. A fabulous storyteller  entertained us and there was a delicious waste-free, locally-sourced  and healthy morning tea! We hope to be in a position to exhibit our sustainability journey at  the Enviroschools Celebration this time next year. Watch this space! Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectiv
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Family Games Night 2019

Our family games night was a fantastic opportunity for our school community to come together and connect.  Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectives are valued for the knowledge and insight that they bring, and they are supported to take action for real change. -  Sustainable Communities  act in ways that nurture people and nature, now and in the future, to maintain the health and viability of our environment, society, culture and economy.
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Gardening with Room 2

Our newest arrivals to Stanhope, the students in Room 2, have been doing some gardening this term. They have removed our old pea vines, planted some cherry tomatoes and basil, sowed some seeds, enjoyed using the watering cans and harvested some broccoli. We tasted the broccoli both raw and cooked and the verdict was that it was more delicious when cooked – the students polished off a huge bowl of plain steamed broccoli! Everyone tried it and only a few children decided it wasn’t for them and many came back for second helpings. Vegetables are more appealing and so much tastier when you’ve grown them yourself! Are you growing any vegetables in your garden at home? Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectives are valued for the knowledge and insight that they bring, and they are supported to take action for real change. - The p
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TREEmendous News

We have a  TREEmendous  announcement to make!  But first, some background... TREEmendous  – a joint initiative between the Mazda Foundation and Project Crimson, teaches children about the importance of caring for the environment through the development of amazing outdoor classrooms for teachers and students to reconnect with nature. The initiative is about encouraging environmental education in schools, along with teaching children and the wider community about the importance of caring for the environment. Ruud Kleinpaste, the ‘Bugman’, is an ambassador for the project who takes environmental education to the next level at  TREEmendous  events. Ruud brings his insect friends along and teaches the children about New Zealand’s native bugs and the importance of looking after the environment. Check out  treemendous .org.nz  for more information and examples. In July the Eco-Warriors heard the exciting news that their stage 1 TREEmendous application made it into the top 10
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Harakeke Harvesting

A group of students from Puāwaitanga needed some harakeke (flax) to use in their inquiry learning. Before harvesting, we said a harakeke karakia and the students sang a beautiful waiata. When we harvested, we cut on the diagonal away from the heart of the plant and we took only the Tūpuna (grandparents/ancestors) leaves, not the Matua (parents) or Rito/Pepe (baby) leaves. The students took three leaves to plait into a rope to be used on a waka they had crafted. The trimmings of the harakeke were returned to Papatūānuku and buried beneath the harakeke plant that we harvested from. Source: National Library Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectives are valued for the knowledge and insight that they bring, and they are supported to take action for real change. - The principle of  Māori Perspectives  honours the status o
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Filipino Language Week

Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectives are valued for the knowledge and insight that they bring, and they are supported to take action for real change. -  Respect for the   Diversity of People and Cultures  acknowledges the unique gifts, contributions and perspectives of individuals and groups, reinforcing the need for participatory decision-making in Enviroschools. -  Sustainable Communities  act in ways that nurture people and nature, now and in the future, to maintain the health and viability of our environment, society, culture and economy.
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Celebrating Diwali

What a wonderful week we had celebrating Diwali! Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectives are valued for the knowledge and insight that they bring, and they are supported to take action for real change. -  Respect for the   Diversity of People and Cultures  acknowledges the unique gifts, contributions and perspectives of individuals and groups, reinforcing the need for participatory decision-making in Enviroschools. -  Sustainable Communities  act in ways that nurture people and nature, now and in the future, to maintain the health and viability of our environment, society, culture and economy.
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Sustainable Travel

Well done to Puāwaitanga for encouraging and supporting safe sustainable travel to school! Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectives are valued for the knowledge and insight that they bring, and they are supported to take action for real change. - The principle of  Learning for Sustainability  recognises the types of teaching and learning that foster student empowerment, decision-making, action and sustainable outcomes. -  Sustainable Communities  act in ways that nurture people and nature, now and in the future, to maintain the health and viability of our environment, society, culture and economy.
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The Fruits of our Labour

We have been enjoying the fruits of our labour in the  garden recently. The loquat tree has been extremely popular, with its  sweet and juicy yellow fruit drawing crowds during  break times. We have also been harvesting lettuce, spinach, celery, snow peas,  broccoli, cabbages, beetroots, kale, silverbeet and carrots to share  with some of our whanau. Labour weekend is the traditional time to plant tomatoes in New  Zealand, so Whakatōtanga and Tupuranga students have been busy  getting our cherry tomato plants into the ground and we can’t wait  for a delicious harvest when we get back to school after the summer holidays. It’s a great time of year for our students to be getting  outside and working in the garden! Enviroschools Principles in action here: -  Empowered Students   are enabled to participate in a meaningful way in the life of their early childhood centre or school. Their unique perspectives are valued for the knowledge and insight that they bring, and they are s
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Dry Ice (solid carbon dioxide)

Room 6 students experimented with dry ice during Science Club. Students learned that dry ice was frozen carbon dioxide, the gas we exhale and the gas plants use to make food. We discussed the differences between normal ice (frozen water) and dry ice.  Water freezes at 0 degrees and carbon dioxide becomes a solid at -78 degrees. Students hypothesised about what would happen to the dry ice when placed in cold water vs hot water. They observed bubbles when dry ice was in water and vapour poured off the water. To show that the bubbles were carbon dioxide (air), we placed water and dry ice in a water bottle and quickly attached a balloon to the opening. The dry ice bubbled and the balloon began to inflate. This week the students discussed the experiment further in class and each wrote about the experiment.  We are so grateful to one of our parents, Colleen Brent, for giving up her time to come in and share her incredible knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm with the students each week at S
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