Environment Committee 10 April 2018

Report No. 18-48 Information Only - No Decision Required

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

1. PURPOSE 1.1. The purpose of this item is to provide members of Council’s Environment Committee with an Environmental Education progress report for the period from 2 December 2017 – 2 April 2018. 1.2. For the purpose of this report, both the ‘Educator’ and the ‘Regional Coordinator’ refer to the Horizons Regional Council (Horizons) Environmental Educator. .5FTE of the role is regional coordination of the Enviroschools Programme, with the remaining .5FTE of the role delivering Horizons Environmental Education programmes.

2. RECOMMENDATION That the Committee recommends that Council: a. receives the information contained in Report No. 18-48 and Annex.

3. FINANCIAL IMPACT 3.1. There is no financial impact associated with recommendations in this paper.

4. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 4.1. This is a public item and therefore Council may deem this sufficient to inform the public.

5. SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS RISK IMPACT 5.1. There is no significant business risk associated with recommendations in this paper.

6. ANNUAL PLAN TARGETS

Reporting Period YTD Measure Target % 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Actual Enviroschools workshops held 8 4 5 17 38 44% Waiora sessions conducted 5 5 17 27 34 79% Community engagements 8 7 9 24 30 80%

6.1. The measure for Enviroschools workshops held includes workshops run by the Regional Coordinator as well as workshops run by contracted Facilitators. 6.2. The measure for Waiora sessions conducted includes only sessions run by the Educator. Sessions conducted using Horizons’ kits without the Educator are not included. 6.3. The measure for community engagements does not include Waiora sessions or Enviroschools workshops. This measure tracks all other events and activities that fall within Environmental Education.

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7. ENVIROSCHOOLS DATA

Districts

Ruahine Palmerston Ruapehu Rangitikei Manawatū Tararua Horowhenua Kindergarten Total North City Association Enviroschools 7 9 5 10 8 2 1 5 47 Friends of 1 3 3 3 6 4 4 7 31 Enviroschools 7.1. There are 47 official Enviroschools spread throughout the Region covering all districts. 7.2. There are 31 Friends of Enviroschools in the Region.

8. ACTIVITY REPORT - WAIORA 8.1. The Educator conducted the following Waiora sessions: One session with School on the Hautapu River, four sessions with School on an unnamed stream near the school, one session with School on the Whangaehu River, two sessions with Ohakune Primary School on the Mangawhero Stream, six sessions with Lytton Street School at Cone Creek, three sessions with Havelock North Primary School on the Pohangina River (Totara Reserve). This reporting period, the Educator took approximately 379 students through the Waiora programme. 8.2. Dannevirke High School borrowed two Waiora kits for use in their NCEA Level 2 assessments at the Manawatū River. 8.3. Tauramanui High School borrowed a Waiora kit for their monitoring at their local stream.

9. ACTIVITY REPORT - ENVIROSCHOOLS 9.1. The Regional Coordinator (RC) attended an Enviroschools hui in Wellington on 13 March 2018. This allowed RCs from the Lower to connect and plan inter-region professional development opportunities and workshops. 9.2. The Regional Coordinator has met with all Facilitators to discuss their plans for 2018. 9.3. New Enviroschools: Tangimoana School 9.4. The Regional Coordinator held unpacking workshops for Pongaroa School and Riverdale Kindergarten. 9.5. The Regional Coordinator delivered two holistic reflections process workshops in the Whanganui District, plus one in Palmerston North City. 9.6. In late 2017, Toimata Foundation undertook a national Enviroschools Census to understand what schools/early childhood centres have been doing on their Enviroschools journeys. Our region had an impressive 78% response rate with 36 out of 46 Enviroschools completing the survey. There were many comments made from teachers in the region on the value of the programme to today’s education environment and how students/tamariki benefit from Enviroschools. [Enviroschools] …provides meaningful and authentic contexts, it’s cross-curricular, uses inquiry learning model …… it encourages healthy lifestyles, empowers students to lead learning, connect students to environment, raises awareness of the need for positive actions…

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Environment Committee 10 April 2018 …. Our children are our future citizens of [our] world and it is vital for them to grow, learn and develop an understanding and awareness of their contribution to humanity. Although regional results are yet to be released, the appendix to this report contains a national summary of key results. Once regional data is available, we are more than happy to share this with Council and the wider public.

10. ACTIVITY REPORT – OTHER 10.1. The Educator collected some macroinvertebrates (bugs) from the Mangawhero Stream to show students from Years 1 and 2 of Ohakune Primary School. The students had fun identifying the different bugs from the big pictures provided and how we can use them to indicate water health. To continue with their water studies, the Educator next met the students at a pond in Miro Park, Ohakune, to look at life in a pond environment and to see how different the bugs are to those found in a stream/river. 10.2. With many swim spot sites affected by the unseasonal high level of toxic cyanobacteria, students at St Anthony’s School, Pahiatua embarked on an inquiry to learn more about it and its affects. The Educator met with the students towards the end of their inquiry to see what they had learnt and answered many of their questions. 10.3. Students on camp from Kelburn Normal School, Wellington attended a day of coastal and stream themed activities at Kai Iwi Beach, provided by the Educator, DOC Whanganui, Whanganui Regional Museum and Sarjeant Art Gallery. The Educator provided an activity looking for macroinvertebrates at Mowhanau Stream. 10.4. The Educator met with geography teachers from Palmerston North Boys High School (PNBHS) and Freyberg High School who are teaching NCEA level 3 (year 13). They were looking at setting up projects which look at changes in water quality throughout a river catchment so wanted with some background knowledge and skills about water quality issues, learn about the types of simple tests which can be done to assess water quality and to grasp how the Waiora equipment works. 10.5. The Educator attended all three days of Central District Field Days and ran an activity looking at matching macroinvertebrates to their preferred water quality. 10.6. Seaweek 2018 ran from 3 March – 11 March 2018. The Enviroschools Facilitator for Whanganui, supported the DOC, Whanganui Regional Museum, Sarjeant Gallery and Castlecliff Coast Care in providing a range of beach and stream related activities at Kai Iwi Beach. HRC sponsored bus travel for two of the schools which attended. Approximately 500 students participated throughout the week. 10.7. In line with the Seaweek theme, the Educator held a community beach clean at Foxton Beach on 3 March 2018 which, had more than 50 people in attendance. Horowhenua District Council kindly disposed of the rubbish collected and reported that it weighed an impressive 250kgs. 10.8. Unfavourable weather meant that the planned activity for students on camp from Central Normal School could not go ahead. So instead, the Educator, gave a short presentation on the biodiversity of Totara Reserve and talked about what action the students could take to help keep our streams and rivers clean. 10.9. The Educator hosted the BBQ and provided communications support at Totara Reserve for the Manawatū Walking Festival, on 11 March. Aaron Madden and Ruth Fleeson from the Horizons Biodiversity team hosted walkers on the Fern Walk. Feedback about the hosts on the walk as well as the BBQ has been positive. 11. The following activities were also undertaken in this reporting period however are not counted as community engagements in the table under Section 6.

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Environment Committee 10 April 2018 11.1. The Educator attended a local environmental educators meeting convened by DOC Manawatū to bring together those working in the same space. The aim of this meeting was to start a process of collaborating on events in the district and sharing resources. 11.2. Following Annual Plan feedback, the Educator met with Hinerangi Carberry from Rangitāne o Tamaki nui a Rua to discuss our environmental education provision and how we can work closer together in that space, including providing kura teachers with professional development. 11.3. Tokirima School has collected 283 dynex sleeves to be recycled. They are supporting the initiative run by the Natural Resources and Partnerships Group for rural schools to be reimbursed a set amount per complete dynex sleeve. These sleeves are then collected by Horizons staff and sent away for recycling. 11.4. The Educator met with Linton Country School to discuss Enviroschools and potential environmental projects. This school reluctantly withdrew from the Enviroschools programme due to a low student roll so it is great to see that they are still really keen to build sustainability into their school. 11.5. The Educator met with Aaron Madden and the Curator of Kitchener Park to look at how they could engage local schools in using the area for studies and potentially adopting an area to care for.

12. SIGNIFICANCE 12.1. This is not a significant decision according to the Council’s Policy on Significance and Engagement.

Manawatū Walking Festival Manawatū Walking Festival

Seaweek 2018 Community Beach Clean, Foxton Seaweek 2018 Community Beach Clean, Foxton

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Post-Waiora swimming at Totara Reserve with Havelock Kakahi found on a Waiora with Mataroa School North Primary School

Exploring pond life at Miro Park with Ohakune Primary Exploring pond life at Miro Park with Ohakune Primary School School

Sarah Galley ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATOR

Chrissie Morrison MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

ANNEXES A Summary of Key Results Enviroschools Census 2018

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