Moth Plant Pod Celebrations!

At last the day had come; the day we find out where we had placed in the annual 

MOTH POD COMPETITION! 

For the last few months not only had our awesome team been out weekly collecting pods and roots but the whole school community. This year we had a record of 56 students and staff that brought pods and roots in for our school team! 

  

Moth pod is an invasive weed with a very long vine that wraps around trees and strangles them. The flower sap kills butterflies and bees before growing into a pod that contains hundreds more seeds. 

We were very keen to go and remove as many as we could find! 

Our goal: 10,000 pods and roots... Actual number: 15, 909 

nervously waiting to find out the result... 

The prize giving this year was at Bucklands Beach - a beautiful setting. 

We were very excited to finish SECOND school behind Howick College! 

We received some prize money and everyone in our team received an awesome pin badge. 

We also received certificates for being first at the halfway point and being the school team
that pulled out the most seedling plants. 

awesome pin badge

Safety Around Schools!

 Yesterday morning our awesome TRAVELWISE students were out promoting safe driving speeds around our school. 

We had some 'slow down' and 'watch your speed' signs the students were holding up. 

All vehicles should be doing 30 kph or under around schools so we had the speed radar checking speeds! 

WELL DONE parents and drivers using Willoughby Avenue - everyone was sticking to the speed limit. 

However, parents do need to remember not to stop on the double yellow lines - this is unsafe and can incur a $100 fine! 

It was great to see students walking to school or being dropped off a little further away and walking. This helps reduce car traffic around the school gate. 

We are now well into the WEDNESDAY CHALLENGE - a weekly nationwide challenge where students walk, bike or scooter to school and earn points and prizes for their class. Well done Room 1 - you are the winners this week. 

We are also excited about a SECOND walking school bus that will soon be starting up from Angelo Avenue - near Pakuranga Highway.  Get in touch if you are keen to join or can help us out. 

Minimising our waste in MANY ways!

We are passionate about reducing our waste to LANDFILL! 

Today we we watched the awesome 'Savvy & the Stolen Recycling' show by A Fool's Company. 

The play was really funny and a great reminder to recycle...

* HARD plastic with 1 - 2 - 5 on it  and plastic bottles

* Cans

* Glass

* Cardboard - like pizza boxes

Another way we are reducing our waste is by trying hard to have a wrapper free lunch. 

It has been great to see some students who, back in term 1, found this a challenge and have now started having a wrapper free lunch every day! 

💚 lots of healthy fruit and food bought in bulk

💚More fruit and popcorn and chips from a BIG packet

💚Mandarins, grapes and treats from BIG bulk packets 

We also have some enviro superstars that have set up their own 'rubbish patrol' at lunchtime! 

Well done Eden, Annie, Kimberley and team! 

Planting Natives

 It's tree planting season again! 🍃

The students are getting ready for our BIG planting day coming up 

in a few weeks time by planting in our school native garden. 

We were lucky to receive some FREE native trees to plant: 

- Ake Ake

- Titoki

- Coprosma 

- Pittosporum

With thanks for their wonderful support by donating these trees:

* Paper 4 Trees

* BlueSky Community Trust 

* Te Whangai Trust 

PLANTING UPDATE: 

While we were there we also checked on the native trees we had previously planted. This includes: 

- flax 

- rewarewa

- lancewood

The students were fascinated by the young 'fierce' lancewood trees! 

The young natives are making great progress;  the area is fast becoming a native forest! 

Our great big GARDEN TO TABLE BAKE SALE!

Our long awaited BAKE SALE is finally here! 

This year we had Room 2 (year 6) and Room 5 (year 4/ 5) baking during their sessions and then helping to sell at lunchtime. 

There was a great buzz from the whole school about what treats they wanted to buy! 

Our top sellers, as always, were the beetroot brownie and herby breadsticks. 

We collected in $683! 

We are looking to update some of our kitchen equipment using this money. 

prep time!

setting it all up

Kumara Season!

This week at Garden to Table we celebrated a milestone:

harvesting the first of our kumara for the season!

David and the senior students had worked hard creating an excellent

new kumara bed, and we are hoping for a great crop this year!

Before the harvest, we said a karakia (blessing). Following tradition, the first harvest of kumara is presented to a respected elder,

and this honour was given to Mrs Hurley.

This tradition reflects practices that many Māori growers still follow:

• Begin harvest with karakia

• Respect Rongo-mā-Tāne

• Keep first-fruit traditions in some form

• Emphasise careful handling and curing

Room 5 and Room 2 have been busy the last few weeks!

Other exciting activities they have been doing include:

• The great compost bucket race! 

• Building Bliss Ball snowmen

• Eating lots of juicy greens from the garden in our veggie pasta

• Getting a good dose of Vitamin C with the first of our lemons

• Discovering carrots can be RED!