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.
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| 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
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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.
