Grants help the garden grow

By Nathan Crombienathan.crombie@age.co.nz

Two Wairarapa schools have won grants to help grow better classroom gardens in the latest round of a nationwide science funding scheme.

Whareama School was granted $1000 for compost bins, worm farms and mini greenhouses and Pahiatua School was granted almost $1500 for a stream health monitoring kit, bug viewers, jewellers' loupes, nets, thermometers, trays and petri dishes.

Grants were made to 11 other schools in the Bayer Primary School Science Fund, which provides up to $2000 each for primary and intermediate schools to help with science education.

Bayer New Zealand managing director Patricia Castle said the grant for Whareama School will teach students to be sustainable and to develop compost and help recycle waste.

"They will be able to see a variety of options used to remove waste from around the school and will use professionally made recycling products in order to compare, analyse and discuss recycling techniques."

Ms Castle said Pahiatua School are to use their grant to monitor the water quality of a stream that runs through the school grounds, and a town water supply.

"The students will be investigating and measuring the stream where it runs through the school and will compare those results with the same stream further up towards its source," she said.

"Alongside this investigation, students will also monitor the town water supply which comes from a bore and is causing concern for locals. Comparisons will be recorded and reported to the local community via the school website."

Ms Castle said school gardens are a popular teaching tool and more than half the schools awarded grants in the latest funding are putting the money towards developing or enhancing their own gardens.

Other projects include a school Science Trolley equipped with equipment for experiments and investigations.

"By providing teachers with the tools they need to bring science lessons to life, we hope students will develop a passion for science that will continue long after they leave school."

The Bayer Primary School Science Fund was last year established in partnership with the Royal Society of New Zealand, and Bayer New Zealand is contributing $120,000 to the fund over three years.

There are two funding rounds each year. The next round is in April.

For more information, see www.royalsociety.org.nz.