'Redress' - don't throw away your old clothes - as seen in the Herald

Here's a great reason to keep wearing that favourite old shirt your mother/partner/friend 

keeps telling you to throw away because they think it is out of fashion:

Rapidly changing fashions 

lead to 

rapidly rising landfill piles of... 

not-quite-worn-out...

clothes!

See:
http://redress.com.hk/get-informed/why-fashion/

and the 'fashion mountain' at:

http://redress.com.hk/projects/exhibitions/the-3-mountain/


(Thanks to The Herald, Saturday 9 November)


At last, an excuse to NOT go clothes shopping :-)

- Mrs Barker

What to do with your old analogue (non-digital) TV? Recycle it!

Analogue televisions are about to be phased out - the digital changeover is coming.

T.V. takeback is coming to a place near you.

Visit  http://tvtakeback.govt.nz/

or check the flier distributed to Greenhithe School families

to find out where to take your T.V. for recycling.

Recycling old televisions has these benefits:

It keeps unnecessary bulk and toxic leachates (like lead-contaminated water) out of landfills.

It releases elements for re-use: e.g. aluminium, glass, steel, iron and copper. 

Not only that, but when you take your TV to recycle, 

you can nominate Greenhithe school to win 

a Samsung digital prize package. 

Save the kiwi week - Room 12's contribution

During Save the Kiwi Week, middle school children learned all about the kiwi. 

Room 12 decided to create a 'Save our kiwi' poster 
to put in the window for their families to see. 

The faces say it all: Room 29's anti-litter message

Room 29 children say 'Please don't leave rubbish lying around our school!'


Many thanks to Mrs Restall-Shaw for supporting these keen environmentalists.

Children's photos of our Year 2 area planting

Barrie has completed the second phase of the vegetable gardens!

Have you heard of Ooooby - Out Of Our Own Backyard?

The Ooooby network supplies a weekly box of local, organic produce to homes in the Auckland area.

Click here for the Ooooby website 
and a video about 'food miles':
http://www.ooooby.org/auckland/about


This article was written by one of Ooooby's members:

The Health Benefits of Organic Produce - By Lisa Banks

You might be wondering what the benefits are of organic food. After all, the produce we supply at Ooooby looks the same as the conventionally-grown fruit and vegetables you find in your local supermarket, so it’s not unreasonable to ask why you should choose our natural and organic Ooooby Box. Aside from the convenience of having fresh, local produce delivered direct to your door, by going organic, you can also take advantage of the potential health benefits while supporting organic growers like Bill and Marilyn.

How much better is organic?

A better question to ask would be: what’s missing from organic produce? The answer to this is: everything unnatural. Conventionally-grown produce is sprayed with fertilisers and pesticides; while fruit and vegetables are also treated with waxes or preservatives to keep them at their best for longer. These methods may be great for growing and selling large quantities of produce at low prices, but think about where the chemical nasties end up. However much you wash your fruit and vegetables before you make that salad or bite into that apple, some residue will remain. Research backs up the idea that consuming organic produce could reduce exposure levels to these pesticide residues. Because we source as much of our produce as possible locally and deliver each week, you can enjoy fresh produce at its best, with the shortest time possible between the field or farm and your kitchen.


While there is nothing to suggest fertilisers and pesticides directly and immediately impact health, for many people looking to improve their diet and adopt a healthier lifestyle, switching to organic means eliminating a potentially harmful component. This could be especially important for people in 'high risk' groups, such as pregnant women, young children and those with a weakened immune system. It has also been suggested that the effect of these chemicals could build up over time; leading to such side effects as headaches. Also bear in mind that peeling fruits and vegetables to reduce pesticide consumption means losing fibre and nutrient content. With natural, organically-produced fruits and vegetables, you don’t need to worry about sacrificing vital nutrition.

Are there benefits to mental health?

Believe it or not, there is evidence to suggest a link between nutrition and mental health; with some experts going as far as claiming food contributes to the development, management and prevention of certain mental health problems. As an example, advice and guidance about Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder will often include a nutritional component, as the type of foods eaten might complicate the condition. Those affected are generally advised to eat a healthy and varied diet that contains lots of fibre and basic nutrients, which are provided in abundance through fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Those who believe in the link between nutrition and mental health put forward the idea that a healthy diet and lifestyle can equal a healthy mind. From a more scientific standpoint, the role of omega-3 fatty acids is of specific interest, as these play a crucial role in healthy brain function. It has been found that organic produce contains a more favourable omega-6-to-3 ratio of essential fatty acids than conventional produce, so making the switch could be of benefit to people concerned about these issues.


Obviously, certain conditions cannot be controlled through diet alone, but it does make sense that if you care about your phystical health, you’re also likely to take care of your mental health and address any issues of concern.


What about the other health benefits?

Over the years, many different studies have been carried out in the scientific community into the benefits of organic produce. As you might expect, the results have been mixed; but is has been claimed organic produce has higher antioxidant levels than its conventionally-produced equivalent; meaning it has the potential to lower the risk of some cancers. In terms of other nutritional benefits, studies have shown organic produce has lower levels of nitrates and higher levels of both vitamin C and selenium. However, the main nutrient benefits are the same as with any fruits and vegetables, with the key being a varied diet.

Other benefits of organic produce

Aside from the associated health benefits, many people believe organic produce just plain tastes better. In addition, a significant element of the organic farming process concerns sustainability and promoting environmental protection, through such issues as reducing pollution and improving soil quality. This is why we do our best to source all our products from local, organic producers to ensure the food we deliver is both good for you and the planet. So, if you’ve decided to make the switch to organic, let us take the hard work out of your choice and we’ll deliver a box brimming with nature’s goodness right to your door each and every week.

Greenhithe-grown vegetables: From garden to table, to children...in about three minutes!

With the help of Mrs Barker and Mrs Marshall, the Green Team children (with a few extras from Room 12) had a 'cauliflower morning tea'. 
The idea was to show children how easy and fun it is to grow and prepare your own vegetables.

Who knew veggies were so exciting?

Going fast...

Raw ultra-fresh cauliflower with cheddar cheese and dipping sauces - delicious.

Members of the Green Team and some of Rm 12 voting on how it tasted.

Hooray for the beautiful cauliflower.

A retrospective look at Enviroschools at Greenhithe School

This post, written a few years ago, is a snapshot of what has happened in the past in Greenhithe School.


Enjoy!



Over the past few years we have been involved in lots of enviro projects in our school. Here are some examples of what we do at Greenhithe to help look after our planet.

All Greens

Children in Year 4-6 can apply to be a member of the All Greens, one of our School Enviro teams. In 2009 the All Greens made a video and planted over 200 native plants in our school grounds.

Worm Farmers

Children from all year levels help to run our worm farms.  We have six worm farms now, filled with thousands of very busy and hungry worms.  We save sending lots of waste to the landfill by feeding our food scraps to the worms instead. They produce wonderful worm wee which we sell for people to use on their gardens.  Sometimes we use it to feed the plants in our school gardens too.  The plants love it.

To buy some worm wee for your garden, email katherineb@greenhithe.school.nz

Power Savers

We have a team of year 4-6 students who are our ‘Power Savers’.  The Power Savers have made pledges to help our school save power.  All classrooms have been provided with awesome light switch frames created by year 3 and 4 students.  These frames remind everyone to turn off the lights when they leave the room.  We are also a Schoolgen school. We have solar panels on our roof generating power for our school.  To see how much power we have generated today check out the Schoolgen website: www.schoolgen.co.nz

Waste Checkers 

Another fabulous team of year 4-6 students are our waste checkers.  They check that classes are remembering to recycle and reduce the amount of waste they are sending to landfill.  The winning class from each syndicate is found each week and presented with the Waste Wise Award in assembly.

Travel Wise Team

Our awesome travel wise team checks up on how many children are walking, biking or scootering to school each week.  The best class can win the Golden Boot award.

Other Enviro Projects

In 2007 the Junior School planned and created a beautiful butterfly garden. 

They transformed this…

 into this… 

 

In 2008 the juniors created some beautiful murals around the school.  Some classes have made lovely mosaic tiles which you can see in the butterfly garden and the native garden.

In 2008 each child in the middle syndicate planted a native plant in our new native garden.   In 2009 the All Greens planted 200 more plants in there. 

With the help of lots of wonderful parents we have transformed this…

Into this…

We even have a kaitiaki in our garden.  We hope our plants will help protect the waterways and provide new homes for some native birds.

First vegetable harvest

Ripe cauliflower - a thing of beauty. And delicious, too!

Carrots - ready soon.

Three bags of goodness - broccoli, spring onion, celery and silverbeet.

This first harvest is going to help a local family.
The next harvest...we will eat!

Vegetable signwriters in action

The Green Team has worked with Mrs Barker at creating a list of the benefits of our school vegetable garden. 

This list is a little different - it will be displayed in the garden, and is designed in  'vege-market style'.

Here are Room 12 students Montana, Katana and Ella at our first lettering session:

Tanya Playfair's mural team has created two beautiful works of art.

Article by Tanya Playfair:

Have you noticed the new murals 

overlooking the Year 2 playground?

These were developed by the Senior Art group during our targeted learning in term 1. The children began by looking at what Greenhithe means to them. They came up with ideas around the native bush; pohutukawa, kowhai, tui, ferns and flax. 

The students then merged their ideas to form the background and foreground pieces. In groups, they then layered on paint, using a range of processes and techniques. We think the overall look is fantastic and we are very proud.

Many thanks to Barry for materials and setting the murals in place, to Marsha Smith for her expertise and guidance and to all the families that provided paint.

Thank you also to those who helped to complete the murals during the holidays, the Smith family, the Leong family, Sylvia Leadley and my boys.

Tanya Playfair

What IS an Enviroschool, anyway?

Greenhithe School is an Enviroschool.

What exactly does that mean? 

Enviroschools aim to function in a sustainable manner according to guiding principles provided by our local councils(see below).

Schools can focus on reaching one of these four award stages:

• Bronze
• Silver
• Green Gold and
• Beyond Green Gold

Greenhithe School has achieved the Silver award in recent years, and we are currently working at keeping our great reputation! There are many activities and features in our school which come under the Enviroschools 'way of living':

Travelwise
Solar power from our library  roof panels
Paper recycling
Fruit scraps from the Year 3s to our worm farm
Vegetable gardens
Nature garden and trail
Butterfly garden
Murals depicting local wildlife
World Vision support (as part of the 'global village')
Bird-friendly plantings in the new Year 2 area.
A Unit on 'Guardians of the Earth' looking at conservation of sea creatures and ecosystems
A Unit on Maori culture and language
A Unit on 'Wearable Art' focusing on the culture and characteristics of a different nation by each class.

Parents and students fill our new vegetable garden surrounds - made by Barrie.

For more information on the Enviroschools award system, see the excellent summary provided by Northland Council: 
http://www.nrc.govt.nz/For-Schools/Enviroschools/Enviroschools-awards/#info

Some excerpts are below:

The Enviroschools Guiding Principles are:

• Sustainable Communities
• Empowered Students
• Maori Perspectives
• Learning for Sustainability and
• Respect for Diversity of People and Cultures. 

The four key areas of school life that have an effect on sustainability and student learning are: 

• Place/Wahi (physical surroundings)
• Practices/Tikanga (operational practices)
• Programmes/Kaupapa Ako (living curriculum) and
• People and Participation/Tangata (organisational management).
• 
  

Silver Award - key words

Maintaining Extending Increasing range and depth of learning and action Developing connections and integration Projects and participants growing in number

Silver Award- Description

We have a clear, shared whole school vision and we are working together creatively to make it happen.  There are obvious signs of all the Guiding Principles in our school, across all the areas of school life.  We have a sense of inter-relatedness/whanaungatanga in terms of our school, our community and our environment.  Our sustainable practices are being kept up and are growing; we are branching into new aspects as well as going deeper with existing ones through student-led enquiry.  Students are fully involved in planning and making decisions about actions.  We are tracking our progress and can show that more change has happened.  Our work has involved lots of people in our school, as well as parents, whanau and other community members.

•