Te Kaupapari

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. ...

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...

We had the pleasure of sharing our beehives with the some of our project supporters on Friday the 18th of October. Members of the Rotary Club of Ellerslie Sunrise and Jay Park of JP Homes visited to see the bees in  action. We held an opening ceremony where Dave McDonald from Rotary cut a ribbon with one of our newest students, Isabelle. Members of the kapa haka group sang a beautiful waiata while our visitors inspected the hives. We are truly grateful to our project supporters for helping to make this wonderful learning opportunity possible: Rotary Club of Ellerslie Sunrise, JP Homes NZ, the Maungakiekie Tamaki Local Board, Fulton Hogan, Mitre 10 Mega Mt Wellington and Torque Digital. 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 su...

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. - The principle of  Māori Perspectives  honours the status of tangata whenua in this land and the value of indigenous knowledge in enriching and guiding learning and action. -  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.

You may have noticed that some new fruit trees have appeared around the school grounds over the past couple of weeks.  This is because we have been extremely fortunate to receive ‘Love Your Neighbourhood’ funding of $500 from the Eco-Matters Environment Trust, supported by the Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board. Plus our Parent Group very generously matched this amount.  This enabled us to purchase 22 fruit trees, enough for every class in the school to plant one. The students enjoyed getting outside, getting dirty and learning how to plant a tree. We can’t wait until our students have fresh apples, pears, peaches, plums, peachcots, guavas, mandarins, lemonade lemons, figs, guavas and cherimoyas to snack on during morning tea and lunch times.  Our sincere thanks to the ‘Love Your Neighbourhood’ fund and our Parent Group. Room 3 planted a ‘Packham’s Triumph’ pear tree   Room 7 planted a ‘Silverhill’ mandarin tree   Room 2 planted a ‘Yellow’...