Tinopai School student Olivia Prangley with mum Kristeen at the KMR Paparoa planting day.
Tinopai School student Olivia Prangley with mum Kristeen at the KMR Paparoa planting day.
More than 5000 trees are to be potted by students around Northland as part of two environmental initiatives, including along the Kaipara Moana.
Teachers across Northland have said the Trees for Survival initiative has the potential to be a neurodiverse-friendly learning experience, as well as encouraging tamariki to give back to their community.
Trees for Survival is an environmental education programme developed in 1993. Fast forward to 2023 and 200 schools across the country have joined the initiative.
In Northland, Portland School, Kamo Intermediate and Maunu School have now joined the scheme, following Hikurangi School and Kaiwaka School which have been involved for a number of years.
It’s free for schools to join and they are provided with the resources to do the mahi - including shade houses, potting mix, seedlings and planter bags.
About 5000 trees will be potted up in Northland this spring and in the autumn of 2024 students will plant their carefully grown trees.
Waterways and hillsides are popular spots for the trees to be planted and are done so on either private or public land.
In another initiative, Tinopai, Paparoa and Maungaturoto primary schools have joined forces under the Kaipara Moana Remediation (KMR) programme to reduce sediment flows into the harbour by supporting farmers and groups to fence off waterways.
The students joined the KMR team, Te Uri o Hau, Enviroschools, Whitebait Connection and local volunteers to plant more than 950,000 native plants over 200 hectares.
“This kind of mahi is really important to do as a community because it teaches our children the importance of caring for the environment,” Hapū engagement adviser Griffin Hope said.
Portland School is one of the new schools to sign up for Trees for Survival and principal Shane Nicholas said the initiative was great because it provides the expertise.
“They’re providing us with a facilitator who’s going to walk with us during that journey,” he said.
Providing the school with expertise gives them a leg-up to eventually build the capacity to run the programme on their own, he said.
He described the project as a “springboard” for the school to get involved in other community projects.
Nicholas is excited to see where the project goes and said the students “love getting their hands dirty”.
He also said the initiative has a “lot of potential” for neurodiverse learners and provides opportunities for success for all students.
“Just because you’re not good at reading or writing doesn’t mean you’re not excellent at something,” he said.
Hikurangi School has been involved in the initiative since 2017 and facilitator, teacher Helen Moore said the tamariki enjoy the whole process.
In the nearly six years involved in Trees for Survival, the school has planted about 6000 trees but frequent floods have subsequently ripped many away.
It’s a learning curve for students and, with a little trial and error as well as help from the Northland Regional Council and Trees for Survival, they now have a new plan in place.
Hikurangi School students take part in a tree-planting initiative that operates across Northland.
The school is now looking for new land to plant the trees - hopefully that of a farmer who wants their stream planted up.
Once the ground dries up a little, the students will put the trees into the ground.
Moore said generally the senior students and environmental class students did the potting up and then the whole school joins to plant, with senior students offering a helping hand to juniors.
Maunu School principal Claire Turton said the focus for its kura is about giving back to the community and being guardians of the environment. Like Hikurangi School, the senior students will lead the way with the initiative.
