Kids project down the drain
Kids from Urenui School took to painting the streets in a bid to let people know their year-long school project had gone down the drain.
And teachers from the small rural school were rapt about it.
The year 4 - 6 pupils used water-based paint to stencil graphics of marine life next to the drain grates along Takiroa St for their Waterways Action Project to help protect coastal areas.
The bold colour statements are reminders to everyone that what you put down the stormwater drains gets flushed out to sea.
From now on, people may think twice when they see a bright blue seal in the gutter out front of the school.
‘‘It finally came together, it’s looking pretty good. When I walk past and see it, I’ll feel very proud of myself that I got this done,’’ said Kylie Sole, 10, about her stencil seal design.
‘‘It’s been an amazing experience for them and they are so excited about today,’’ said Kirsty Riddell, the teacher pushing the tide of environmental change.
The children hoped their simple but effective visual messages would make a change on a larger scale.
Children were bombarded with pictures of pollution from all over the world and this project taught them to love the environment they were in and look after it, Riddell said. ’’The biggest thing to come out of this is they know they can make a difference.’’
The idea was spawned last year when Riddell worked closely with DOC to educate the kids about marine reserves. That led to a field trip to Goat Island.
Key to participating in the programme was coming up with their own action project. ’’Instead of sticking to the ocean, the students wanted to start further back,’’ Riddell said.
TRC’s education officer Kevin Archerguided them through an inquiry based stream study investigating macro aquatic invertebrate, measure water clarity and speed.
The interactive study stirred their young minds, and made them want to look even further back, into drains.
With the help of NPDC’s Rob Campbell the children discovered where the storm water goes from the sump, and what we can do to stop pollution of our water networks.
‘‘It’s great to see the council interact with the school and something really positive come out of it. It’s great,’’ Campbell said.