Central Takaka School receives award
Central Takaka School’s new teachers Andrew Wooster, left, and Siobhan O’Hara. Photo: Neil Wilson.
Central Takaka school is now officially an Enviro-School. At a special assembly last Tuesday, TDC envronmental education officer and Enviro-Schools facilitator Claire Webster presented the official paperwork and a container of tiger worms for the school’s worm farm.
Ms Webster said she had a great day because of the obvious “delight and pride” of the whole school community.
“That whole-school-community involvement is the heart of what a good enviro-school is,” said Claire. “They had the oldest kid and the youngest kid and the keenest gardener all planting trees to mark the day. “Nanna” Gaye Dodson and Grant Knowles were along helping out too.”
The whole school had earlier painted a huge mural celebrating the occasion. Big kids and little kids were buddied up to work on the mural which is proudly on display in the school library.
Central Takaka School principal, Liz Batten, said that the environmental focus was being continued into the whole school curriculum.
“The seniors are collaborating in a project down at Clifton,” she said. “It was our teacher Andrew Wooster’s idea to give our children an actual piece of coastline to take some responsibility for. They’re working in with DOC and the Takaka Golf Club to look after some coastal land down there. It’ll be an ongoing project. It’s about the children learning in authentic contexts.”
New teachers, Andrew Wooster (years 3 and 4) and Siobhan O’Hara (new entrants to year 2), say they are happy to be part of the “neat” Central Takaka School community and its curriculum-wide focus on environmental matters.
Neil Wilson
