Dannevirke Central Kindergarten goes green, joins Enviroschools programme

Heads down looking for worms in the worm farm.

Dannevirke’s Central Kindergarten has gone green.

The preschool has joined the Enviroschools programme, an action-based approach to education through which children and young people plan, design and implement sustainable projects and become catalysts for change in their families and the community.

The programme is nationwide and coordinated locally by Horizons Regional Council.

Staff member Chris Williams recently joined Central Kindergarten, bringing experience from other kindergartens running the Enviroschools programme. Since Central Kindergarten already had a worm farm structure, the idea to get it running again was eagerly adopted.

Head teacher Hilary Hirst says the children have shown a keen interest in the worms, finding out what to feed them, learning not to touch them and that worm wee is good for making plants grow.

What to feed your worms: fruit but not citrus, vegetables but not onions.

The kindergarten has encouraged parents to help by providing milk containers to store the wee and act as a barrier to slugs and snails.

This group enjoy sowing their seeds in the greenhouse.

Planting out bean plants and sunflowers.

Snuggled into the corner of the covered porch is a greenhouse and the children have loved planting bean, calendula and sunflower seeds, then taking them home when big enough to transplant.

Each Matariki the children are all given a bean seed to grow at home.

The children probably don't know what the big words mean but they know they are helping nature.

They have been problem-solving too, because their tiny seedlings have been eaten by snails and slugs. So far, suggestions of laying child-safe solutions like coffee grounds and egg shells have failed - the snails loved them.

The current target is to achieve the Enviroschools bronze certificate. Next year’s target is to focus on water sustainability, especially with the looming drought.

Dave Murdoch is a part-time photo-journalist working for the Bush Telegraph and based at Dannevirke. He has covered any community story telling good news about the district for the past 10 years.