The Back Garden and Seeds Group have been very busy every Tuesday lunchtime.  They have been harvesting our pumpkins for the community table and to store for winter soup cooking.  They have also harvested and prepared the ingredients for our Hukanui Chutney, using apple cucumbers, onions and apples harvested from their gardens.
Students in this group also care for the native tree nursery and our school native gully restoration project.  They have been busy potting on plants ready to be planted in the winter months.  Their dedication and skill is outstanding.

Students in our Year 5/6 Living Room Caretakers Group meet every Tuesday morning at 8.30am to 9.30am.  During this time, they learn about the Living Room and it's connection to the outside environment.  This special group engages peer teaching from the year 6 students who are in their second year in this group, to the year 5 students who are just beginning their journey.  The Living Room was a huge environmental project, so the past students wrote a manual that explains the history, environmental features, their maintenance and a caretakers schedule which they present to the Board of Trustees.  Each week, they revisit part of this manual, so that they are informed when showing other classes or visitors around this diverse area.  Last week they learnt about the beehive and helped package the honey.  Previous to that, they discovered the planning that was involved during 2005-2009.  This year, they found out about the passive energy the Living Room uses to save resources. These student are wonderful environmental leaders.

The new term is underway and our students continue their enthusiasm to make a difference in our environment locally and globally.  The Year 3/4 Sustainable Elective have been busy learning about honeybees and the vital role they play in the pollination of plants and consequently our food production.  They now know that honey is a bonus and pollination is the number one reason why past students wanted a school beehive.  The students have been helping with the care of the beehive and harvesting the excess honey.  We always ensure that the bees have enough honey in the hive to eat, especially over the lean winter months.  Check out our stunning student helpers!

On Friday 27 March, we had our first 2015 Enviro Council meeting with 22 very motivated and environmentally passionate students.  After introducing ourselves, we discussed why our classes may have chosen us to represent them on our Enviro Council.  The reasons included:
*  We have a passion for the environment and helping it become an even better environment.
*  Students could see that we are people who care.
*  We will be great role models.
*  We are responsible and can be trusted.
*  After our class speeches, students could see we have passion and enjoy the environment.
*  We have a lot of environmental knowledge already.
These genuine reasons make for an exciting year ahead.

Introducing ourselves to each other at our first meeting.

We chose the Cultural Gardens for our group photo.  This was
our first Enviroschool project that students began planning in 1998.

During writing sessions in Room 5, we have been learning about the incredible annual voyage of the small godwit bird.  They travel from Alaska to New Zealand and back to Alaska again to breed.  This is such a long way, about 12 000km one way.  Wow!  What clever birds.  We found out the dangers to the godwits and why people need to know more about them.  We hope you enjoy our posters.

Today was fun for our group who care for the 

backyard garden.  Last week, we harvested the

corn, peeled and and froze it ready for today when we cooked it and ate it.  This corn was really tasty, so sweet!  

We also taste tested two chutneys made from ingredients from our gardens and our Hukanui Honey.  There was a spicy chutney and a sweeter one.  We used apples, apple cucumber, onions, vinegar and honey.  Half of us like one of the chutneys the most and the rest of us liked the other one.

It is great to cook things that we have eaten right by the Living Room where we grow things.

Grandma Sharon helped us.  She also explained the history of corn and where it comes from.  

We are lucky to plant, cook, eat ant learn about foods in our own gardens.

For the fourth year, Fairfield Rotary Club have supported our school's sustainable projects.  Mr Kitto and Mrs Jones from the Fairfield Rotary Club came along to the Year 5 and 6 assembly on Friday 20 March 2015 to present Sarah from the 'Seeds and Backyard Garden Group' with a cheque for $200 to go towards encouraging others to be involved in sustainability at our school and to keep our Backyard Garden going. We are very thankful for this recognition of our community and student work and we enjoyed hearing how the Fairfield Rotary Club helps other groups with their projects.