Inspiring a new green generation
Taupo¯ ’s innovative environmental education programme Kids Greening Taupo¯ is moving into a new phase as it continues to inspire the next generation.
Its education coordinator Thea De Petris says the first schools who partnered with Kids Greening Taupo¯ five years ago have graduated and are well-placed to carry it on on their own. Kids Greening Taupo¯ has been able to bring on new schools and early childhood centres to work closely with in 2020.
Schools spend three years establishing an environmental programme with intensive support from Kids Greening Taupo¯ then move on to delivering it independently so new schools can have their turn.
“Our vision is that all children in the district are learning about and taking action for native flora and fauna and wildlife but there’s almost 50 [schools] in Taupo¯ town when you count up all the number of early childhood centres,” explains Thea. “We don’t have enough hours in the day and we still want to reach out to those who are keen to get on the Kids Greening Taupo¯ wagon.”
Kids Greening Taupo¯ education coordinators come into the school for two-hour sessions every other week for three years.
“What we’ve found for piloting it for the last five years is that teachers really appreciate having the coordinators come in and work with students and teachers.They feel it really invigorates their curriculum, gives them new ideas and gets the students excited because someone new is coming in.
Thea says when a school graduates from Kids Greening Taupo¯ they have structures in place and can call on Kids Greening for occasional visits or ideas. Teachers still have access to educational opportunities put on in collaboration with the Taupo¯ Environmental Educational Collaborative, can go to professional development sessions and apply for Kids Greening Taupo¯ Take Action grants. They can also tap into other opportunities, such as working with the Taupo¯ District Council on waste management initiatives or participating in Arbour Day activities.
Last year Kids Greening Taupo¯ had 12 schools in the programme. Five of them: Taupo¯ Primary, Waipa¯ h¯ıh¯ı, Tauhara College, Central Kids Hinemoa and Four Seasons Kindergarten are from the pilot programme and are now graduating. Seven schools remain in the programme and two new schools, Mountview School and
Best Start Abacus, are joining.
Kids Greening Taupo¯ has a new education coordinator starting this year, with Thea leaving in April and she says she hopes that once the new teacher is fully on board, the number of schools in the intensive programme will go back up to 12 in 2021.
Thea says it is a milestone for Kids Greening Taupo¯ to have the first schools in the pilot graduating as it shows progress towards the goal of eventually reaching all children in the Taupo¯ district.
“Our goal is to help teachers feel confident and capable of using nature and the outdoors as a teaching and learning context so that young people can be involved and bring back nature where we live and play and work.
“We can only do so much ourselves so if the teachers can get kids outside restoring nature, helping nature, understanding why we need to restore nature and having the skills to do so, then we’re going to have an impact on a greater number of young people than we could just do on our own.”