Sustainability

At St Mary’s we offer an edible garden, a Sustainable Learning Area, composting, recycling, water play, Trees for Survival programme, Wednesday gardening club, (parents and students) and we are currently looking at water conservation. We housed four amazing and lively chickens for many years (who have recently retired to the Bay of Plenty) and also looked after two orphaned lambs in the Spring of 2019.

In today's world it is important for schools to provide education about being Sustainable and looking after God's creation. At St Mary’s we value being able to provide our students a Sustainability centred education. This is an opportunity to give the next generation all the skills and knowledge necessary to handle the social and environmental changes that will occur in the near future.

Our students will gain an understanding of the dependence between humans and the environment where they live. Sustainability education will provide our educators with the opportunity to teach students about situations that are mutually beneficial to both humans and the natural ecosystem.

We participate regularly in Bee Week and Native Bird Surveys as well as looking after our Sustainability Garden and Chickens on a rotating class roster (we look forward to picking this up again when our new chickens arrive!).

We encourage our students to bring Waste Free lunches and lunchboxes.

Regular Events and Activities:

Gardening Club

  • Wednesdays at lunchtime (fortnightly) - We have a very dedicated group of parents who help out our Gardening Club kids.

Oete Goat Farm - Trees for Survival Planting Day.

  • This is an environmental education programme which involves young people growing and planting native trees to restore natural habitats by helping landowners revegetate erosion prone land, improve stream flow and water quality and increase biodiversity. St Mary's students have been involved in this programme for the last three years.