• Howick and Pakuranga Times
Pakuranga College has received a bronze Enviroschools award, which recognises schools that are committed to environmental learning, action and creating sustainable communities.
To reach bronze status, the college’s 80-strong environmental council needed to provide evidence of work they’ve done and explain the rationale behind it.
“It’s all about conservation and sustainability,” says Rebekah Jeffery, who is an assistant dean at the school.
“Students really wanted to push for bronze. This meant documenting and reflecting on all the sorts of things we’ve done as an environmental council.”
This included creating a worm farm and compost heap, cleaning up a local stream, planting trees and encouraging recycling.
“It’s hard for a high school to reach green-gold status because you’ve got to have all the teachers, the whole curriculum and the whole [school] environment centred around sustainability,” says Mrs Jeffery.
Point View School in Dannemora and East Tamaki School, which is in Otara, have also received bronze awards for their schemes.
Year 10 student Ben Dowdle, of Pakuranga College’s environmental council, says Enviroschools is a “great programme”.
“You’re out there learning in a practical way,” says Ben. “It’s not just about being Greenpeace people. It teaches values and learning in an environmental context.”
Ben and other budding environmentalists are delighted with the achievement. And they are hoping to step up to the next level – a silver award – this year.
Mrs Jeffery says: “It’s a neat achievement and I’m proud of them. They want to give it a go, so I’ll give them all my support.”
