Enviroschools Canterbury February 2016 Chatterbox Students show water zone committee how it’s done! Students at our annual Enviro-leaders camp enjoyed getting into character for our mock water zone committee meeting ably chaired by a real committee chairperson, Clare McKay from the Waimakariri Water Zone Committee. Students gained insight into the complexities of water management and the different values and perspectives held by different groups. For many, this was the highlight of our camp with teachers impressed at how articulate these future leaders are in expressing their opinion. North Loburn students aka ‘Giga Energy Company’ confidently outlined the benefits of a fictitious hydro dam on the Glentui River as part of a mock water zone committee meeting 2016 Enviroleaders camp at Glentui Kia ora tātou, Thanks to the support of the Christchurch City Council’s Strengthening Communities Fund we are able to again offer facilitation support to CCC Enviroschools. We are excited about reconnecting with you all and are offering a free “Let’s get energised teacher hui on the 3rd March, Debbie from ECAN helps students to identify make sure you register early to secure Sean from Raptor Rescue explains how to your place! protect harrier hawks like Eva invertebrates in the Glentui River We farewell Hilary in the south and welcome Debbie Eddington into her role as Enviroschools Facilitator for South Canterbury. Debbie has a dual role delivering other ECAN education programmes and will know many of you already. We look forward to supporting you and your students on your sustainability journey in 2016! One of the postcards written by students Ngā mihi nui on camp, this postcard was sent to Andrea, Toni, Matt and Debbie Lillian to remind her to share this new knowledge back at home and school Students proudly show off their tree art made Enviroschools Canterbury using mud and natural materials Enviroschools Canterbury Coordinating Agency Supported by our partners: Department of Conservation, Waimakariri District Council, MacKenzie District Council, Regional Coordinator: Selwyn District Council, Timaru District Council, Hurunui District Council and The Toimata Foundation Andrea Taylor, [email protected] Grant from: Strengthening Communities – Christchurch City Council Selwyn Enviroschools Thank you to Danielle Faichnie Year 5 from Ashburton Borough School for sharing her well written speech, we were impressed with her plant over 4500 understanding of the water cycle and our relationship with water, natives in 2015 we know you will enjoy reading it too. Leeston Consolidated School students rounded off the 2015 Kids Discovery Plantouts by planting 500 plants at My Relationship with Water DOC Lakeside Reserve. Hello glass of water – how important are you? The Kids Discovery Plantout is a collaboration Let’s see … … between Selwyn Enviroschools and Te Ara Kākāriki with support from Waihora Ellesmere Well when I woke up I turned on my lamp – which used water. Trust, Lincoln University and the Department The rain fell from the sky to fill the dam, of Conservation. Schools develop a long term to power the turbine, relationship with a restoration site near to to make the electricity, their school; they take part in planting and to turn on my lamp to give me light. learn about how their action benefits the place through monitoring, minibeast safaris, cultural As I was eating my breakfast I realised the rain grows the grain to make my cereal. activities and games. Also the rain grows the grass to feed the cows In 2015, over 2000 students from 11 Selwyn to make the milk in my cereal. schools and the Kidsfirst Kindergarten Lincoln planted 4630 plants, developing their learning On a daily basis at school I am still using water. in these outdoor classrooms. Not just drinking but it is important to grow the tree to make the paper and pencils “A huge thanks for an awesome day…I have had to do my school work. parents come into my classroom especially to say how much their kids loved their day to the So pretty much everything needs water; point that they didn’t stop talking about it! Our to grow our food, staff are so much more connected and invested to hydrate our bodies in the project’ Teacher comment. and even to flush the toilet. The Kids Discovery Plantouts will continue into 2016 with the intention of deeper curriculum How did the water get in my glass? links, Matt will be in touch! It sounds pretty simple. I turned on the tap. But there is a cycle; when the clouds release their water, the rain falls on the earth, when the water hits the earth it enters our lakes, waterways, rivers and enters our water table underground. This is like our natural water filtering system also known as an aquifer. From the aquifer the water is supplied to our houses, so that we may fill a glass or use for many other uses. Did you know there is water evaporating in lakes and rivers right now without us even seeing it? And then the clouds get full and then it rains? So to wrap up – the importance of water. It makes electricity to keep us clean and it keeps us healthy and if we waste or pollute it or don’t learn to conserve it … … … without water there is no life. When you brushed your teeth this morning did you turn off the tap or did you waste the water? If you didn’t turn it off you most likely wasted as much water as I have in my glass Photo credit: Mike Bowie, Lincoln University. for a drink. Photo taken of Damian Corbett with a Nursery Web Spider found on Mike’s minibeast Safari at the Lakeside Kids Discovery Plantout. Cashmere High School future energy leaders Congratulations to our Enviroschool Cashmere High who are still buzzing from winning the prestigious 2016 Zayed Future Energy Prize in the Global High School Category for Oceania. This means they are awarded US$100,000 on reducing their energy use inspired by the to implement their proposed sustainable EcoDriver pilot in 2012 leading to significant Student ambassadors Nola Smart and Lily energy project involving solar, wind and financial savings. Williams are pictured here with teacher Leith very cool piezoelectric tiles! The student-led Read more in their blogspot: Cooper in Abu Dhabi. sustainability council have been focussing http://chszayed2016.blogspot.co.nz/ Mean Green House winners at Rangiora Carew Peel Forest School shines green-gold New Life At the end of last year, we were very proud to be acknowledged as a Green/Gold Enviroschool. This is special and affirming for us as this is the culmination of a lot of Rangiora New Life students Meighan Weber, work that started many years ago. Josh Miller and Zachary Taylor won the Secondary School’s category of the Mean Green There are only six out of 75 schools or guiding principles that are embedded. House Competition. Check out the link to their centres in the programme in Canterbury The team were amazed at how confident, presentation: http://www.schoolgen.co.nz/ who have earned this status. The visiting knowledgeable and caring the students students/mean-green-house-winners-2015 team gathered information over the day were. We thank everyone in our school from all children, in classes and from those community, past and present, who have Amanda Beukes’ Year 10 Design for Visual in the envirogroup. They were involved in helped us on our journey - children, Communications class worked in teams to a process of showing, sharing, explaining, teachers, support staff, Home and School, design solar efficient houses. There was a lot justifying and reflecting on the many BoT, parents and community members, of research involved and they were lucky to examples of their learning and life at school, Enviroschools, - it is a team effort that have outside visitors come in and share their along with their actions. results in us ‘walking the talk’. knowledge on sustainability and energy gains that can be made from the sun. Grace Cross To achieve at this level, we have to have Kay Ward and Jayne Raynor (Carew Peel and Olivia Eastmond also of RNL received a a living, evolving school vision, with Forest School) highly commended for their entry. Students and staff at Carew Peel Forest School celebrate achieving green-gold after a full Meighan, Josh and Zachary display their day reflecting on their achievements and planning next steps winning entry in the Genesis Energy Mean Front row; Blair, Lia, Amelia, Saskia, Shelby. Middle row: Lily, Mattie and Angus. Back row; Green House competition Hilary (Enviroschools facilitator), Kay, Jayne Build your own electric vehicle a buzz! The 2nd EVolocity event held at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park last resistance! Not to be outdone, Ao Tawhiti’s team of Y6 Students’ ‘Electric November was a huge success. High school competitors had the chance Mayhem’ won the economy run and Rangiora High’s Blue Nitro came to race their own electric vehicle builds against teams from all over second in the drag race with a speed of 30Kph. Of note, and also from Canterbury, Nelson and Tasman. Rangiora High School, were Louis and Jacob’s drift entry which won an award for the ingenuity and technical difficulty of their vehicle. Enviroschools were represented by Motueka High School, Rangiora New Life School, Rangiora High School and Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery. EVolocity continues to expand, for information contact Matt or check out www.evolocity.co.nz Motueka High School took their van back north full of prizes; taking out the performance category, innovation challenge, show and rolling Rangiora High School (RHS) Zero Waste Ambassador Saskia is pictured here with Andrea, Enviroschools Coordinator.