Moth Pod Season!

 Students have been asking me for weeks... 

'When is the moth pod competition starting?' 

And it's back! Our 6th year in a row entering it! 

We have already made a fantastic start collecting over 1000 pods so far with over 30 students helping by bringing pods in or being part of our fantastic 'podding team' that has been out removing pods after school and at weekends!  

These invasive weeds are a real PEST! 

Their vine wraps around trees strangling and smothering the tree so it dies!

 The sap is an irritant and stains clothes so we have to be careful when removing the pods; gloves, glasses and old clothes on! 

Before...

After! Now we can see the actual plant!

Celebrating Chinese New Year AND reducing our carbon footprint!

     At Garden to Table recently we celebrated Chinese New Year by making dumplings and chocolate sesame seed biscuits. 

They were delicious! We even made enough to offer some round at the enviro cluster meeting which was the same day after school. 

We are always looking at ways to be more sustainable, and Nigel, from Pest Free Howick set up a clever calculator that could work out how we can reduce our school carbon footprint by growing our own food to eat. 

In our dumplings we grew and used: 

- spring onions

- carrots

- cabbage

- garlic

- garlic chives and regular chives. 

- ginger (shop bought)

Some of these items were harvested in the school holidays and frozen. 

We did buy the dumpling wrappers and soy sauce.  We made about 160 dumplings. 

By using lots of food we had grown ourselves rather than buying it we reducing the carbon that would've been involving in growing, storing and transporting it to us. 

Our carbon saving was the same as: 

- 20 mature trees absorbing CO2 for a whole year

- Driving a petrol car for 100km in New Zealand

Leading the Way: Our Enviro Cluster Meeting 2026

 

What an inspiring afternoon of connection and "green" thinking!

Yesterday we hosted the Enviro Cluster Meeting, bringing together students, teachers, and community members to share our progress and vision for a more sustainable future.

Our enviro vision

Our fantastic student presenters

The energy in the room was electric (and sustainably sourced, of course!). Our student leaders took centre stage, sporting their green bows and hats, to present the incredible strides we’ve made in our environmental initiatives; waste minimisation, our Garden to Table programme and our native tree areas. 

In addition, we had fantastic support from David, one of our Garden to Table leaders, who showcased our veggie garden. We also had some extra snacks (linked to Chinese language week) provided by Victoria and the Garden to Table kitchen crew! 

Garden to Table 2026

Last week we kicked off our Garden to Table programme with Room 1 and Room 4. 

This is the first time the year four students have regular sessions so there was much excitement! 

Prior to the sessions, all students had to pass their knife safety test. This was a great opportunity to put these knife skills into action! 

As a change this week, the table decorations were the giant pumpkins and gourds instead of the posie flowers - a great discussion point! 

On the menu was:

* Herby breadsticks - see recipe HERE

* Veggie pasta in sauce - see recipe HERE

* Zucchini cheddar scones - please ask for the recipe if you would like it

* Choc bliss balls (with the addition of 1/2 cup of grated beetroot & coconut to roll the balls in) 

 - see recipe HERE

 

Year 6 Legacy Art : UPDATE

Last year we started an ENVIRO INITIATIVE whereby the year 6 leavers create some artwork to be displayed at school as a special memory of their time at Howick Primary School. 

In 2024 the year 6 students decorated our water tank - turning it into a giant 'fish tank'! 

This year the students decorated part of the play area - the 'stumps'. 

The students were asked for their ideas how we could decorate them and they voted... 

                                         COUNTRIES & CULTURES was the winner! 

This fits perfectly with the enviroschools guiding principle  'RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY'.

Students researched and sketched up designs of things that were special to them as part of their culture. 

They then outlined and finally painted these onto the stumps. 

Before shot... (after we had sanded them down) 

The AFTER shot! Many, many hours of sanding, priming, designing & painting!

A huge THANK YOU to Zeena that supported the students with their designs and all of the painting for this project.