After an 11 year journey on the pathway towards sustainability Opoho School is very proud to be recognised as a Green-Gold enviroschool. Watch highlights from Channel 9 here

Simon reflects on a great day...

Queenstown Montessori have just recently reflected on their enviroschools journey and decided they have reached Bronze. Read this inspirational blog from their facilitator, Simon Williams of Wanaka Wastebusters, as he documents how the reflection process went  >blog site here

Well done Simon and Queenstown Montessori! Your reflections will be a useful tool for other enviroschools facilitators and early childhood centres!

Six Otago schools took up the EcoHut Challenge with fabulous results...

Port Chalmers School

The team from Port Chalmers School won the Best Use of Natural Materials and Best Landscape-Sensitive Design for their EcoHut.  

Here the team celebrate on top and inside their hay bale and plaster construction after the official cutting of the cloth ribbon (made from recycled calico strips)!

Middle photo top from left - Otto Dove, Danny Howlett, Mitchell Innes, Hugh Mcleod-Jones, Ruairi Griffin, Connor Reeves-Landreth. Inside - Amy Lloyd, Moss Thompson, Chyenne Rosie

Waihola District School

Sara Williams (right, 8) and Rebecca Coulter (left, 5) stand at the entrance to the EcoHut that was planned and built by all the children in the school!  

The hut is made from a manuka framework, and uses two existing trees for the door frame. The flooring was made from a pallet while the walls are made out of corrugated iron lined with straw for warmth.  The straw is held in place with wire netting.  

All materials were donated and two adults helped out with the construction!  The hut is yet to be finished with plans for a door (to be made from sacking) and flax woven panels to go on the walls for decoration.  We look forward to seeing more photos of your hut!

Purakanui School

"Here is our photo of the EcoHut team, the whole school(!) with our certificate.  The whole school was involved with the planning, design and creation of our hut.

It was a great process to be a part of and we thorougly enjoyed eating the walls of it like Hansel and Gretel!  Thankyou Enviroschools and Dunedin District Council for the opportunity."

Kakanui School

"Here are six students from Room 2, representing all Kakanui students that took part in the planning and creation of Kakanui's EcoHut!"

All EcoHut teams' efforts were celebrated at the Otago Regional Primary Enviroschools' Hui in June, where students judged each others' Huts, had we had a prizegiving when each school was awarded a prize for their EcoHut.  All 16 primary schools at the Hui also visited Purakanui Schools' EcoHut on the way, because it was just over the hill from our venue, Orokonui Ecosanctuary...

Little red hens get to work!

Students at Purakanui School have been learning about the many stages involved in producing one of our most staple foods, and after reading the story of the Little Red Hen, they too have worked through all of the stages of bread production from planting the grain through to taking their own freshly baked loaves out of the oven.

The principal of Purakanui School, Lynne Allen, commented that “There was an incredible sense of satisfaction for the students in making bread from flour that they had grown themselves. The students worked together to prepare the soil, sow seven different types of grain, care for and harvest their crop, thresh, winnow and grind the grain, and finally bake their own bread. The whole harvest was enough to produce three large loaves of bread, which made us all stop and think about how much grain we might eat in a year, and how much land area would be needed to grow that amount.”

 Go Purakanui!

See Musselburg School on their local TV station, Channel 9, celebrating their reflection success:

http://www.ch9.co.nz/content/musselburgh-school-first-school-dunedin-receive-enviroschools-silver-standard

Please note that in the title of the Channel 9 link above, it is stated that Musselburg School is the first school in Dunedin to receive the Enviroschool's silver standard. This is under the new Reflection Process that began this year, there are many other schools in Otago who also have reached Silver! Well done everyone. 

Remarkables Primary School in Queenstown is proudly sporting a new 'green' roof thanks to an innovative design by Greenroofs Ltd. The roof is to double as an outdoor classroom and will be used to model and teach about sustainable practices. Read more here!