Outram School looking after the land

Outram School pupil Felicity Nichol (9) prepares to plant a flax on Duncan and Anne-Marie Wells' dairy farm last week, watched by Mrs Wells (left) and teacher Stacy Buschl.

It was part of a DairyNZ initiative aimed at empowering pupils to work together to restore local wetlands and waterways.

Outram school was given $500 to buy the plants and about 65 plants were planted. While farm staff helped dig the holes, some pupils did a "pretty good" job of digging them, Mrs Wells said.

The response from the children was "amazing" and they seemed to be very proud of their efforts.

"There was no mucking around ...

They all pitched in and got into it and worked really well. It was so nice to look at it afterwards," she said.

Mrs Wells spoke to the children about water quality and why it was important to cary out riparian planting.

"It's nice for them to hear that people that own the land are trying to be responsible. The message we're trying to give [is] if we don't look after the land, it won't look after us."