Welcome to Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s web pages for school students and teachers.
The Regional Council continues to support and promote environmental education / education for sustainability in schools focusing on assisting teachers to integrate it into the school curriculum.
"Environmental education is an investment in our future. If New Zealand is to have a sustainable future, increased understanding of the environment and environmental decisions is essential. The New Zealand Curriculum Framework details the essential learning areas, skills, attitudes and values that will enable students to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to succeed in a modern, changing world. It provides a framework that links learning experiences within the total school curriculum in a coherent and balanced way."
-Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand Schools
The Ministry of Education wrote the Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand Schools in 1999. The Guidelines continue to provide useful information for planning education for sustainability teaching and learning programmes.To access an online version click here.
There are many projects that your school can do as part of your journey to becoming a more sustainable school. Here are some ideas:
- Monitor the health of a local stream
- Recycling, composting, worm farms and bokashi
- School involvement in community sustainability initiatives
- Operation of a nursery / propagation area for use by all year levels
- Develop a school wide environmental education/sustainability policy
- Create an Enviro-group of student from a range of ages from your school
- Students can plan, design, build, plant and maintain veggie garden, native trees and / or orchard
- Look at the electricity or water use within your school and discuss ideas of how to reduce it. Share your ideas in assembly.
- Do a waste audit of your class’s lunch. What can you do about the amount of waste you produce? Challenge other classes to do the same.
- Have a Grandparents day and invite your community to teach you new skills (sewing, flax weaving, cooking, gardening, building, etc.)
- Create a “GOOS” (Good On One Side) box for paper that still has a blank side and can be re-used for art or something else.
- Make a list of projects that the students / teachers / parents want to work on / be considered
- Create an environmental survey or questionnaire for everyone in the school to fill out
- Have a “nude food” (no packaging) day at school once a week
- Put in a rain water tank to use to water your garden
- Use environmentally friendly products
- Dispose of paints and chemicals safely
- Develop an outdoor classroom
If you can’t find what you are looking for email us - Environmental Education.
Find out about our teaching resources available on these pages: