Congratulations Katikati Kindergarten on achieving Green-Gold reflection!! check out the photos below of their reflection day, Great work, looks like you all had alot of fun!

21 and 22 March 2013

About 160 children from 15 schools throughout Bay of Plenty came together for a two-day Hands on Water Expo, held at a Paengaroa farm park.

Eddie Grogan, General Manager Environmental Management at the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, said the hands-on expo showed the value of agencies working together to educate and inform their communities.

“Water is an important issue for everyone”, he said. “As well as reaching a great group of enthusiastic Years 4 -10 students, the Expo was an opportunity for people from different organisations to share their skills and knowledge. I think we learned as much as the students!”

The Bay of Plenty students are already using what they learned at the Water Expo, with a variety of projects underway to tackle water issues in their communities.

Planting riparian strips to protect waterways , conducting a school-wide water use survey, and collecting rainwater for use) are among the actions schools are taking to raise awareness of water use and the need to carefully manage this precious resource.

For a full report on the expo please see the post-event statement. 

Three Bay of Plenty Enviro-Kindergartens were recognised as reaching the bronze level in the Enviroschools programme at the end of 2012.

Botanical Road Kindergarten in Tauranga, Tiaka Early Childhood Centre in Rotorua and Te Puna Kindergarten in the Western Bay of Plenty have all made a lot of progress in the areas of water conservation, waste minimisation, sustainable transport and energy saving.

Botanical Road Kindergarten is most proud of their bird table. The children recognised a problem of what to do with bread scraps possibly attracting rats in their compost. They came up with a solution, designed and buit a table for the birds. It’s located near a window so they can watch the birds feeding without disturbing them. They are reducing waste, problem solving and learning about wildlife all at the same time.

Tiaki Early Childhood Centre has made the most of their natural surroundings. This includes a bike track, feeding the hens and worms, turning the tap on to let the collected rainwater from the roof be used in their sandpit play, and watering their vegetable garden. The students are taking what they learn about sustainability out into the community with walks collecting rubbish, and collecting paper from their homes to bring for Paper for Homes programme.

Te Puna Kindergarten has a river in their playground, fed by a rian water tank, with a tap the children can access. This has taught the children lessons in water sustainability; following an occasion what they forgot to turn off the tap, resulting in the river running dry. Children are enjoying water play, learning to treat water as precious at kindergarten, and taking those lessons home.

Source: Bay of Plenty Regional Council press release

Welcome Bay Kindergarten reflected as a Bronze Kindergarten in June 2012. Children, parents and teachers took part in the reflection process, using it as a springboard to plan future actions.

>read their Bronze statement and see photos here

Be inspired and motivated by the enthusiasm of the Tauranga Kindergarten Association as they organised and hosted an exciting conference around sustainability >read more here!