Editor
Principal David Mossop
Gully planting, paper recycling, composting, native tree restoration, liquid vermicast sales, waste management plans, environmental impact reports . . . sounds much like an action list from a DOC focus group or a Regional Council meeting. Yet, at Hukanui School in Hamilton, this is normal language and typical activity. What’s more it is all led and driven by the children themselves. Liz Hawes takes a tour of the ‘Green-Gold’ Enviroschool to find out why Hukanui adopted the ‘enviro’ culture and how the school has adapted its curriculum to accommodate these eco-friendly concepts. It’s is a powerful leader who can bring people on board to share a vision and make it happen. One could assume that with 610 children on a growing roll, David Mossop, principal of Hukanui School in Hamilton, might face a few challenges trying to steer his entire school community down the enviro pathway. After all it calls for a complete mind shift in the teaching and learning approach. It follows a philosophy in which the children lead, plan and implement the programme. But for this unassuming, quietly confident and focused leader it’s all in a day’s work. David is quick to acknowledge that he does not drive this vision alone. Alongside him is Michelle White, the school’s Education for Sustainability leader, and according to David, Michelle is key to the success of the programme: I see my strength as a team builder who believes in the school vision statement of ‘maximising people’s potential’. I see my role as encouraging teachers to develop their own strengths and passions, then giving them the opportunity
to use those passions through a differentiated curriculum to inspire children in their learning. Enviro lead teacher Michelle White is an example of the success of this approach and a key figure in developing education for sustainability in the school through the school’s Electives Programme. This is an approach that enables children to study areas of interest in greater depth. The kaupapa of enviroschools, established by the Enviroschools Foundation, is ‘about the well-being of the whole school, community and ecosystem.’ The thinking driving this kaupapa is explained as ‘working out how to live so that our society and economy nourishes the natural systems which give us life’. It’s about ‘empowering students and schools to create healthy, peaceful, sustainable communities.’ Hukanui’s journey began in 1998 with the first ‘vision map’, developed by the students and the community. ‘To sustain an enviroschool,’ says David, ‘takes full commitment and needs the total support of the children, teachers, parents and the local community to succeed. It is all-pervasive and is reflected across our entire curriculum here at Hukanui School, including subjects like literacy and numeracy,’ he said. Current literacy research would support Hukanui’s choice to go the enviro way. In her investigative study into the effects of enviroschools on literacy acquisition, Faye Wilson-Hill found that hands-on learning in the environment enhanced children’s vocabulary, reading, analytical skills and understanding. Children became critical and reflective thinkers in applying
themselves to establishing sustainability goals, and through discussing different perspectives and ideas for sustainability they also became respectful listeners. She claims that students are motivated in literacy learning ‘through the use of materials from across the curriculum in authentic contexts.’ Not bad outcomes if your aim is to equip children with the literacy skills to confidently take on life’s future challenges. A second key element in the enviro approach is ‘inquiry learning’. ‘Much of our teaching could be described through the ‘inquiry’ method,’ says David. ‘Inquiry is compatible with our enviro culture which is all about empowering children to ask the “what if ” questions, guiding them to research the topic and identify The native garden viable options, plan a course of action and implement it,’ he said. A good example is one of the school’s early projects. The section designated as a native New Zealand section. Now well children identified a courtyard area of the school which was established and a feature of the school playground, the cultural underutilised. Applying the survey research method the project garden is again back on the list for refreshing. ‘Nothing is group sought the views of the children and teachers on what to ever finished here,’ says David, ‘which of course applies to any do with the identified land. They found that the most popular ecosystem. There is always maintenance, replanting, feeding, response was to turn it into a ‘cultural garden’. ‘The gardens watering, weeding expanding and sometimes redesigning,’ he were designed with the help of experts with whom the children says. With their strong focus on zero waste and recycling it was not worked. The centrepiece included a column set in concrete and surrounded by a circle of the children’s hand-painted rocks. surprising that when a prized redwood tree was hit by lightning Parameters for the project included that the gardens must and died, Hukanui kids sought to make use of the remaining represent plants and flowers from the native country of every tree trunk. ‘The upshot was we commissioned a carving which child enrolled in the school and there would also be a special is called “circle of friends”. The area surrounding the carving has
The new entrants settle down to do some reading
since been developed and has become a very popular playtime spot for the children to use,’ said David. A quick tour of the school revealed a now well-established gully area at the back of the school field which the children have restored in conjunction with a community group. ‘Our children are now cultivating seedlings and growing them for the gully project,’ said David proudly, and by the number of very healthy-looking kowhai trees lining the school’s greenhouse, there is more planting ahead.
The glass bottle insulation in the Living Room
The Living Room wood burner surrounded by the clay brick wall
Further revelations included the ‘chicken tractor’, complete with the chooks of course and the day’s freshly laid eggs. I learn that the ‘hen house’ is mobile and as the straw floor becomes sufficiently ‘manured’, the hen house is lifted up, wheeled on to a fresh site and a vegetable garden is established on the vacated area. ‘Nothing is wasted here,’ laughs David. ‘The children learn that different parts of an ecosystem make contributions to other areas of the ecosystem and so in the end nature is one huge finely balanced organic structure.’ I examined the lush crop of tomatoes flourishing in the garden built from the last hen house input and as I gazed down at the fleshy tomato cradled in the cup of my hand I thought ‘Wow! A chook grew this!’ Chooks are not the only donors of soil nutrients. The kids make their own contributions too with the composting of food scraps. I am proudly marched off to the compost bin where the rotting carpet cover is peeled back to reveal, well, a wreaking, stinking bath tub of detritus. ‘I told you we waste nothing,’ smiled David,
The water tank for garden irrigation
as we both enthused over the half-eaten apples, banana skins and sandwich crusts lying inelegantly atop the pile of stench. I swiftly turned down the offer to admire the cockroach ‘farm’ but not before the attendant children had their chance to explain the critical part each of these elements play in the life of their school ecosystem. Would I like to see the ‘worm juice’? I am ready for anything now that my olfactory system has adapted to this new environment. The school’s worm farm produces such quantities of vermicast (which is turned into liquid vermicast) that there is
The children’s contribution to the composting project
surplus to sell. I am told that in the school gardens it is used to boost the soil structure and enhance moisture retention. Profits from the sale of the surplus ‘worm juice’ as the children fondly call it, is poured back into other eco projects. A more recent project is the school beehive. Again initiated and researched by the children the beehive was built under the guidance of an expert beekeeper and produced its first honey harvest in 2011. Children can observe the bees at work through a special glass window and classes study the bees’ behaviour first-hand. Groups of children are allocated to maintain the beehive and collect the honey under the supervision of the school’s specialist eco teacher. ‘Having the bees is not so much about producing honey to sell,’ says David, ‘it is more about showing the children the role bees have in pollinating plants so they can produce their fruits. It is showing them first-hand the interdependencies of the wider ecosystem.’ Each of these features at Hukanui School is remarkable in its own right, but perhaps the most outstanding of all is the ‘Living Room’, Hukanui School’s eco-classroom. ‘This was the children’s idea,’ explains David. ‘Like all eco projects at the school this one began with a vision which came from the “what if ” scenario.’ An early concept was drawn up and together with the design team the children researched the building orientation the choice of building materials and did a full cost analysis. They also selected the architect and the builders, having constructed their own questions and as a panel, interviewed the selected short list. ‘I was present during the interview process,’ says David, ‘and it was quite clear that some of the interviewees were very unaccustomed to having children on an interview panel. They kept turning to me with their answers and I just had to refer them back to the children. They were
driving this interview, not me,’ he said proudly. Next was community awareness and fundraising, which the children also led and helped raise the shortfall of money required to get the building started. The children named the new classroom ‘the Living Room’ because it was intended as a living laboratory. For example, there are three different floor insulation types incorporated including pumice, polystyrene and glass bottles, so that the children can examine the differences. ‘We have these transducer panels which were donated to us and these allow the Principal David Mossop joins the ‘circle of friends’ in the playground children to measure the insulation Raglan as the expert to guide them in how to make these performance,’ explained David. The floor itself is polished recycled aggregate concrete. special bricks. ‘It is quite common practice for us to bring Allowing the heat of the sun to be absorbed, thereby equalising in outside experts to assist in teaching skills that we don’t night and day temperatures. There was no treated timber used have,’ says David. A very complex system of ventilation systems including in the construction and all the offcuts were recycled as skirting boards. ‘One of the criteria the children had drawn up in skylights, louvres and fans ensures maximum warm air in the choosing the builder was that there be zero waste,’ said David, winter and cool in the summer. Importantly, this living laboratory provides ongoing monitoring of insulation effectiveness and ‘and I can tell you, that was a challenge!’ Earthbricks were chosen for the wall area around the lighting control to reduce the amount of energy used. It is the woodburner and the children engaged an earth builder from eco classroom, where the children come to study eco things. This
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unique and special classroom was opened in 2009 and boasts half the carbon footprint of a typical classroom. A final touch is the student designed ‘Fountain of Power’, a water feature designed to catch water from the roof, which flows through a series of ‘paint tins’ making interesting music along the way to finally drip out of the lower tins to water the wetlands. The feature was built by year 5 and 6 children. And
The chooks
The chicken tractor and the vege garden have a special relationship
while the water feature feeds the wetlands, the school also has its own water tank to feed the gardens. Water is collected from the broad roof span of the school’s ‘Living Room’. The tank is checked daily by a group of designated children to ensure the pipes are clean and measurements are taken to check the volume of water in the tank. This water is used to irrigate the gardens and the nursery plants and any surplus water feeds into the school supply. The children all understand the critical part water plays in nourishing the ecosystem and respect the importance of recycling any waste water.
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The eco classroom project is ongoing, and I was privileged to meet the team of year 6 children who were just completing the operations manual for the ‘Living Room’ alongside an account of the history of the ‘Living Room’s’ development. The detail was astonishing and as they explained, recording all the decisionmaking processes and writing it all down is so important, so that people in the future will know where it all began. These two
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The eco classroom revolution – the Living Room student-led project
publications will be launched this year. It was made clear that the history writing would continue, so that every year the activities associated with the eco classroom are recorded. To watch the activities of Hukanui School is a great treat. The children run everything and they do it so efficiently, because from the principal down, the staff of this school is as one in their vision. The eco activities of the school are clear and up front. I am equally impressed by the less visible but nevertheless powerful effect of the children’s interactions with each other. Their collaborative approach to almost anything, their generosity and respect of each other, the way they listen to each other seems quite ordinary and natural. It was impressive to observe. ‘The philosophy of enviroschools includes the creation of a healthy peaceful sustainable community,’ says David. ‘Our children adopt into that whole philosophy and that is why they behave the way they do. ‘By the time they reach year 6 they have a real sense of the interactivities of an ecosystem. They know they have taken from that system and learned a great deal and they want to give back to it,’ says David, as he led me to the outside rear of the ‘Living Room’. ‘See this table,’ he nudged, ‘the last year 6 class fundraised to get the materials and made this table for the school. It’s become common practice now, for the children leaving to give something back. It’s a bit like in the environment. If you take something out, you have to put something back to keep the balance. I guess that’s something our kids learn from being in an enviroschool.’
The centrepiece of the Cultural Garden
Hillcrest Normal –
another example of the success of Enviroschools Liz Hawes
Editor
To visit Hillcrest Normal School today it is hard to believe that in 1994 this school had just lost a seven-classroom block to fire and while under MOE management, was, like the phoenix, rising from the ashes. Seventeen years later, under the leadership of Irene Cooper, principal, the school is flourishing again. ‘We have adopted the enviro approach at Hillcrest Normal,’ says Irene, ‘because we believe that it is not only the best way to deliver our curriculum but it’s also the best pathway to higher achievement for the children,’ she said, as she took me through the extensive list of enviro projects both completed and in train at her school. As at Hukanui School, Hillcrest Normal’s enviro programme is very much led and managed by the children and the process of identifying a problem to solve or a playground space to develop follows a similar path. Take the goal of zero waste which Hillcrest Normal has adopted. Through analysing the rubbish, the children identified
that wrappers such as chippie bags were a problem. They wanted them eliminated. Resolving this issue took a two-pronged approach. First was examining the food contained in the wrappers for their nutritional content, and second was finding a way to communicate the finding that these foods were not desirable. Get rid of the chippies and you get rid of the chippie bags. ‘Driving a project such as this is all about asking good questions,’ said Irene. ‘In this case they had to ask how much waste do we create? What types of waste? Where does it come from? That led to identifying the chippie bags.’ Next the children undertook a scientific experiment. They selected a bag of Twisties, counted them, crushed them into powder and poured them into a beaker with boiled water. After some time, the oil separated out and came to the top. ‘The children witnessed first-hand how gross this looked, and by measuring the proportions of oil to water and analysing the other food groups making up the Twisties they recognised
How to find out the biggest rubbish issue
that these Twisties were a bad nutritional option. They then undertook the same experiment with chippies, with similar results,’ said Irene, ‘and while they were at it they did a comparison of the cost of chippies and Twisties versus a healthy food choice like apples.’ To heighten awareness of this issue, they had to be inventive. They constructed a large cardboard pillar onto which they stapled every The chippie bag pillar display – chippie bag from one day’s communicating the findings rubbish, a total of 250 bags. They included on the pillar a pictorial of their experiment and the comparative cost analysis. ‘Out of this project has emerged a renewed relevance for our “nude food” promotions, which are all about children bringing wrapper-free lunches to school,’ said Irene. This is a perfect example of how one enviro project will interact with another. It is also illustrative of the skill level the children engage with in conducting these problem-solving projects. The chippie bag project alone involved high-level sequential and consequential thinking processes, logic, scientific experimentation, observation, recording, mathematical analysis, communication and marketing, artistic design and selection. It’s an impressive list of skills which is unlikely to emerge from sitting
Experimenting to find out the food value of chippies
at a desk reading a book assigned by the teacher or completing a maths worksheet. ‘The power of the learning,’ says Irene, ‘comes from the children being in charge of these projects, asking the questions and working out how to solve the problems themselves. When they need knowledge that they don’t have, we call in experts. It’s all hands-on and that’s how they learn best.’ I wouldn’t argue with that. I saw for myself the outstanding achievements these children were experiencing for themselves and for their school. Congratulations Hillcrest Normal children and teachers. You are most deserving of your new Green-Gold Enviroschool status.
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