Enviro Schools

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School Wide Opportunities

What are Enviroschools?

• Enviroschools are schools and early childhood centres which commit to being part of a nation-wide programme of environmental education for sustainability.

 Enviroschools is a learning framework

• Enviroschools is a national programme run by the Toimata Foundation based in Hamilton. It offers a rich learning framework for action to follow embedded with Māori perspectives.
• The framework process can be used to help create a sustainability vision for the Enviroschool, to plan and take social and environmental actions, to collaborate on projects and to help integrate all aspects of an Enviroschool.
• Enviroschools undertake their own pathway to be more sustainable with measurable signposts, recognised as Bronze, Silver and Green-Gold.

Read more on the Enviroschools website

 

 

How would it work in a school?

Having a worm farm is popular in Enviroschools. Here is an example of how an Enviroschool can deepen real learning and actions to make wider connections from worms:

Students may just learn how a worm farm works and enjoy the actions for being kaitiaki/guardians of the worms. 

A next step, or at another Year level of an Enviroschool, is when they see how the worms turn their food waste into a resource, which could be given away or sold, or used for a garden as nature intended. They may choose to develop or revisit a garden. A garden is a rich learning resource on its own for a range of science and problem solving activities. Depending on the purpose or goal that students may want to reach then the worm farm resource and/or garden can then become a local resource for a wide variety of other purposes.  

At Bronze level, the Enviroschool may just use their garden produce in their school or early childhood. At a Silver level, they may also be feeding their chickens, or fundraising, or exchanging with the community. At a Green Gold level this same worm farm may be supporting a garden that is also specifically catering for meals for their neighbours without a garden.

Students who are knowledgeable start to understand the bigger picture of their community, and plan a sustainable action that benefits their community.