Our student Enviro Council meet every Friday.  Their role is to continue environmental projects begun by previous students, share this history and continue on with new project from our School Vision Map.  They are a very important environmental group because they represent the whole school, by talking to all the students.  They have been learning about our school's Environmental Care Code and the Enviro Voucher system.  To deliver their ideas and answer student's questions, the students have been practising introducing themselves and the weekly minutes in clear and enthusiastic voices.

This term's year 5/6 Sustainable Elective have been learning about water.  Water is in every living thing and is essential for survival.  We found out that watermelons are 92% water and that cucumbers are 96% water.  That surprised a lot of us. We used the cucumbers from our garden to make Hukanui Sunshine Pickle.  It is great to make pickle and chutney because you can have the taste of foods you like in the seasons when they can't grow in our garden.  Wow! Check out our master chefs.

The students in the Backyard Garden/Seed group spent their lunchtime planted the next section of the school gully restoration project.  The learnt how to plant a native tree and collected water from the stream as this is the only time we water our plants, when they are first put in the ground.  We plant the right plant in the right place, so they will grow well all by themselves.  Our students also care for the seedlings in the nursery.  Great teamwork and a lot of fun and satisfaction for us all.

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.