	MOTUEKA HIGH SCHOOL

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Enviro-school

INTRODUCTION

In 2005 Motueka High School started its journey on the Enviro-schools program. This is a nationwide scheme aiming to encourage and support schools to become more environmentally aware and sustainable. In December 2005 Motueka High School was recognised by the Tasman District Council for its efforts in sustainable education and was awarded the Bronze level of the Enviro-Schools Scheme. As part of Environmental Education at MHS we have a Year 10 Environmental Education course, plant trees, grow vegetables for the tuck shop, recycle and reuse paper, compost food scraps from the kitchen and tuck shop, and have a worm farm!

PRIMARY SCHOOL VISITS
In term one Missy Seymour and Tegan Lamont visited Lower Moutere Primary School to discuss how Lower Moutere students help the environment and future things they could be involved in. Missy is hoping to visit more primary schools this year and set up a rubbish pick up once a month for keen primary students around the local area. By visiting primary schools we want to encourage young students to look after their environment and we hope that when these students get to secondary school they will be able to bring new ideas and support to the Environment group.

TREE PLANTING
On June 15 and 17 this year the Horticulture class, the year 10 Environmental education class and a group of students from the Environment group are going to be planting trees and shrubs down at the new walkway by the Inlet. This has been set up by the Tasman District Council for World Arbor Day.

REGENERATION WORKSHOP
On Thursday 4 and Friday 5 June a small group of keen Environmental Group students will attend a workshop with like-minded youth from Nelson and Tasman schools. The workshop is to celebrate what students are already doing and to challenge them to take things to the next step. Experts from different fields to do with the environment will be there for students to discuss their ideas on how they want the future of their communities to look like.

FUNKY FASION SHOW
As part of Ecofest there is an opportunity for students to get involved and make an item of clothing out of pre-used items. There will be a show on 15th and 16th of August to show the creations at a venue in Nelson. The clothing will be judged and prizes awarded.

YEAR 10 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION COURSE

This course sees year 10s doing Environmental Education for one term where they cover a range of topics. The topics include cultural aspects of the environment, why NZ is so special, distribution of resources around the world, rainforests, climate change and many other aspects of the environment and sustainability.

GOALS FOR 2009 and 2010 ENVIRONMENT GROUP

1) Get more people involved (students, staff and community)

2) Have more activities throughout the year and a wider range of activities

3) To achieve a Silver Award

4) Liaise with the contributing primary school

PAPER RECYCLING

This happens throughout the school, blue and yellow bins are in teaching classrooms and offices. The bins are for reusable paper and recyclable paper. The recyclable paper gets put into big bins that are collected and under the Paper for Trees Scheme we get a free native tree for every 10 bins.

MAY AUDIT
This is being run by Waste Education Services to challenge schools to move forward in their waste minimisation journey, with a focus on reducing waste. Part of this challenge is to remind students and staff to recycle their paper in class and to reduce the packaging they bring their lunch in to school. We held a gladwrap ball challenge recently, where students were asked to bring their gladwrap along and see how big a ball we could make, then at the end of the month we will do the same activity. We will also look at pre and post bills for rubbish removal from school to see if encouraging students to recycle more and bring less packaging to school makes a difference.

Enviro-School

We have adopted a plot at the Inlet walkway. The adopt a plot scheme is one of the projects organised by “Keep Motueka Beautiful”. We have plot number 9 and it will need constant upkeep for the next 5 years by replanting and weeding. Feel free to wander down and help!