Food Trip Around the World!

 Over the last few weeks we have loved watched the FIFA Soccer World Cup. 

Next month is another great international sports event -  the Commonwealth Games. 

To coincide with this the whole school has been learning about different countries around the world. 

We decided going on a FOOD TRIP around the WORLD would be a great match with this topic! 

During the first lesson we talked about our own cultures and heritage - what countries we had an association with and what foods were special to these countries. Throughout the whole school we covered many, many different countries and foods! 

These included:

• Sri Lanka - 'hoppers'

• South African - milk tart

• England - Yorkshire puddings 

• Samoa - sapasui

• Spain - chorizo sausage

Do you know what county these foods are from? 

We drew food on a plate to represent a typical meal. We tried to think about food that was linked to our own unique cultures. 

We then chose 4 different countries to research. We had to find out what their flag looked like and some food that was typical to that country. 

To finish the session we went on a 'eating trip around the world' and tried food that are famous in 4 different parts of the world. 

Can you tell which countries they were from? 

We tried pita bread, hummus, pretzels and persimmon.

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!

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! 

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.