Students have spent years working with local pingao expert Betsy Young, who travels the country attending coastal restoration events to deepen her already considerable expertise.
With Young's support, students learn about the plant's history, and how to identify, harvest, grow, prick out, and replant pingao seeds at the correct time of year.
"Using outside spaces as a classroom is changing the way we look at education," Ferens said.
"Our curriculum is based around the environment and the more time we can spend in those spaces, the more connections we see students making.
"It's very, very different from being inside a classroom."
Funding also allowed the school to transport students to the beach and to buy resources like potting mix and watering systems.
Ferens said it would also make it easier to integrate the learning deeper into the school curriculum.
"A huge part of the funding is going towards creating signage on the beach, to link in what the kids are learning with the community and to teach people a bit about pingao and how to protect it," she said.
Toimata Foundation is a charitable trust focused on creative sustainability, with Enviroschools, one of its programmes.
The action-based education programme helps young people plan, design and implement sustainability projects and become catalysts for change.
Toimata Foundation general manager Kristen Price said the foundation was delighted to be working with Earthwise to bring this opportunity to its nationwide networks.
"There are so many inspiring initiatives in the Enviroschools and Te Aho Tū Roa networks, and we would love to see more of them reach their potential with a funding boost," Price said.
Earthwise managing director Jamie Peters said it was fabulous to see the level of commitment to the community and the environment ingrained within our young people.
"It was difficult to select just 11 recipients for the fund with so many worthwhile and diverse entries," he said.
