Term 3: Adopt a Park visit

 This week our year 2 & 3 enviro students walked to William Green Domain to do some ACTION to help the environment. 

First we picked up some rubbish in teams of 3 or 4. 

We were shocked how much there was! We found over 25 plastic bottles in just 10 minutes. 

To reduce this we thought visitors to the park could...

"make sure they don't leave rubbish behind"

"take it with them and put it in a recycle bin"

" use reusable bottles so they don't need to keep on buying more plastic bottles. 

Next we had our lunch and explored the playground. 

After that Ranger Abi came and showed us how to remove the weeds round the natives we planted last term.  We learnt the name of some native trees and some interesting facts about them. 

Fact 1: The karo tree was planted from bird poo! 

Fact 2: Cabbage Trees (ti kouka) actually taste like cabbage in the middle! 

Fact 3: Harakeke (flax) has a gel that can be used to sooth sunburn. 

Our very favourite job was WEEDING! We pulled up LOTS of onion weed. All the weeds were stopping the young trees seeing the sunlight. 

Year 2/3 Adopt a Park

On Tuesday afternoon, a group of very enthusiastic Year 2 and 3 'Enviro students' visited William Green Domain for a planting afternoon.

We began with a quick tour of the park, identifying native trees and collecting rubbish.

Despite the changeable weather, which shifted from rain showers to sunshine, we successfully planted over 100 native trees and plants without getting too wet!

Our planting coordinators, Anna and Levi, demonstrated how to dig proper square holes for planting—we even discovered plenty of worms along the way!

With the support of our fantastic parent helpers, the students worked incredibly hard. We planted a variety of native grasses, cabbage trees, and flaxes, ensuring they were firmly in the ground so the pūkeko couldn't pull them out.

Native Tree Planting with "Trees For Survival"

     On Wednesday a group of enthusiastic year 5 / 6 enviro students set off to plant over 800 native trees & plants on a farm in Hunua. 

For the last 9 months we have been watering and nurturing these plants ready for this day. 

We watched a planting video beforehand and some of us had been last year so we knew what to expect. 

Kirsten, from Trees for Survival, did a great job of starting us off planting and making sure the pukeko weren't going to pull the seedlings out! 

It was a sunny but slightly chilly day when we started planting. But with the help of our fabulous parent helpers and even the bus driver we soon had them firmly planted in the ground. 

Together we planted 835 natives! 

We planted: manuka, karamu, mahoe, ti kouka, harakeke and 2 different types of sedge grass. 

Afterwards we enjoyed relaxing on the lawn, playing in the sunshine and collecting 

grapefruit to take back with us. 

Thank you to Maxine and Hamish, the farm owners, for a delicious lunch and for showing us your beautiful horses. 

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! 

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!