Alexandra Primary School students have been inspired to “Celebrate Our Whenua” with nature projects such as camping, animal feeding, tramping and hut building. 

Alexandra Primary School teacher Anna Ballantine, who teamed with teachers Britt Townsend and Lexie Hay in the project, says the Year 5/6 students started this term going to camp in the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park and the Year 4 students were out camping locally at Galloway last week. 

“Both experiences lent themselves beautifully to experiencing "our own backyard" but taking a moment to appreciate how lucky we are. 

“Celebrating Our Whenua" was an inquiry project where we wanted our students to be involved with local experts and be getting out and about in our community to not only appreciate what we have but draw attention to it and celebrate this with our wider community.”

The project held ample opportunities for learning, with local experiences enabling students to get into nature. 

The students listened to special guests on ecology and local flora and fauna. 

“The essence of this was to appreciate and help others appreciate our local area,” Anna explains.

“Following our Mount Cook camp we spent a week out and about - we did 4 local walks, observed birdlife, compared an image of Alexandra from 1903 to today's current view from "The Clock", observed human and natural impact and change along the river track and spent an afternoon being kids building huts, bug houses, skimming stones, creating nature mandalas and observing as we wandered down the Roxburgh Gorge track. 

“We spent an afternoon mulching with KACB near the clock and along the rail trail.”

“We had Lisa Keene, a parent who used to be an ecologist come and speak to us about local Flora and Fauna as well as Ann Rodgers the Principal Policy Planner from the CODC who spoke about her role at the council and how Alexandra is changing,” Anna says.  

“From here students were inspired with several ideas of how we could celebrate and promote our local area - as opposed to trying to "fix a problem".”

Students got the opportunity to build huts in the forest. 

Students then moved into project teams where the learning focus became about the design thinking process and planning and working to a project deadline collaboratively in order to pull their idea off. 

“All skills these children will need later in life - meaningful learning outside the classroom while also having a positive impact on their local community,” Anna says. 

“From bird feeders and houses to lizard gardens and documentaries, a local Scavenger hunt and native plantings and Predator Awareness game board, our students have followed their interests to do some pretty cool things. 

“A number of these have been compiled into a brochure of various QR codes so this can be shared widely with our community. There are some pretty cool activities in there for all ages to enjoy!”

Students built things such as bird feeders and houses for lizards. 

Students’ thoughts: 

Georgie - “It was a pretty cool journey to go to Mount Cook and hear about the predators and how they affect the national Park. This started a bit of an interest for me and I wanted to have a project that followed on from this learning.

Cam - “It was a great expedition to go around town and see how we could help celebrate what is already in our community.”

Maddy - “I enjoyed going somewhere different and exploring different walking tracks”

Daniel - “I enjoyed going up behind the clock to build lizard houses and gardens.”

Tayla - “My favourite part was creating the Scavenger Hunt where we made QR codes and put these around town. We are hoping lots of people will enjoy exploring our local area and try and find the 6 clues we have put around Alexandra for them to find.”

Logan - “I really enjoyed making the QR codes with the quizzes.”

Hemi - “It was a fascinating journey to start up at Mount Cook, through to exploring local walking tracks and helping lizards.”

Anya - “I enjoyed learning about everyone's different ideas and how we could celebrate these as a community when we collated these into a brochure.”

Arabella - “It was entertaining and interesting working alongside my friends to be able to plan and complete the projects.”

Anna says, after exposing students to initial ideas and getting out and about exploring, this inquiry has been totally student driven. 

Students worked in teams for part of the project, which took place both within and outside the classroom. 

“There is something pretty awesome about seeing our tamariki out and about in their local environment, appreciating this and wanting to celebrate that with their community. 

“Taking a moment to engage them with how Alexandra has and is changing and giving them a meaningful voice lays good foundations for them to continue nurturing the whenua they will one day be the Kaitiaki of.”