Waitara High School, Te Kano/the Seed
Student-inspired change for our taiao (natural environment)
Contributed by Lauree Jones from Taranaki Enviroschools
Waitara High School has been leading the way with sustainable practices and initiatives and the students are benefiting from the collective energies of a number of school staff, along with the quiet assistance and advice of the grounds person, Helen Wood.
This kura (school) is a relatively new addition to Taranaki Enviroschools, but has already taken ownership of the Guiding Principles that underpin the kaupapa. The sustainable journey that the students are traveling is organic in principle, with the boundaries of learning fluid and responsive to youth-inspired change.
Julie Hill, one of the teachers involved, recognised that The Sustainable Backyards Trail would be a fantastic way to once again showcase and promote the mahi her team of enthusiastic tamariki has been involved in over the preceding year.
Kahana Ngaia, WHS Spokesperson for the Taranaki Sustainable Backyards Trail
The feedback from members of the public after they attended Waitara High last year was incredibly positive and certainly validates the efforts that they have put in to create produce and products that are based around sustainable principles. This is a testament to the vision of the teachers of Waitara High School which is invested in their rangatahi (young people) who take on the leadership roles to make this so successful.
Based on the success of last year’s participation, Julie was keen to enter the kura into the trail again in 2021 with several additional dimensions to display.
The students led ongoing tours of the food-producing area, and also ran the following workshops: candle making, working with sourdough, and calf/lamb rearing on a budget.
Kia ora,
My name is Kahana Ngaia and my job is to be the spokes person for the Sustainable Backyards WHS. I’m just here to introduce myself and I have a few photos to send and share a story.
This is Deuel, he is apart of production management.
These two photos are to do with our lamb and calf rearing on a budget focus and our sustainable growing space.
Our lambs and calves to be reared by y10 students are lambs which have been orphaned or are the smaller lamb of triplets. The calves would have been destined to be Bobby calves.
These trees you see with Deuel and I have just been donated by Enviroschools for our school orchard. All our trees have been donated and we are so grateful and happy.
We are proud to highlight the efforts of the students and staff at Waitara High School in hopes of inspiring other organisations and schools in the region to take steps in a similar direction.
If you have a success story, please contact our team at Sustainable Taranaki by emailing info@sustainabletaranaki.org.nz. We’d love to hear from you.
