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Teddy Bear Picnic Storytimes collaboration between Climate Action Campus Ōtautahi & Riccarton House and Bush
Teddy Bear Picnic Storytimes collaboration between Climate Action Campus Ōtautahi & Riccarton House and Bush
Te Kōhanga Reo o te whānau
Te Kōhanga Reo o te whānau
Ka peke nga tamariki i runga i te rakau
Kanaku!
Kai i te māra
Kai ngā marshmallow
The UN just outlined the obligations states have to protect the rights of children.
The UN just outlined the obligations states have to protect the rights of children.
August 28th 2023
When the New Zealand Government signed up to the United Nations Convention or the Rights of the Child, otherwise known as the ‘Children’s Convention in 1993, it agreed to promote, protect, respect, and fulfill the rights of all children.
Climate change poses a severe threat to children’s most basic rights, including those related to survival and wellbeing, health, food security and nutrition, water, and access to education.
Climate change is, at its core, an equity issue. Despite being the least responsible for climate change, today’s children and future generations will bear the heaviest burden of our inaction (Source: UNICEF NZ).
So, what are the responsibilities of governments to reduce the harm climate change will wreak on the lives of children?
A statement from the United Nations (UN) released late August 2023 clearly stipulates why and how the rights of children are compromised by climate change – including the very basic right to life. It also details the steps necessary to mitigate this catastrophe.
The general comment says governments have obligations to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights. It states the “adverse effects of climate change” on the enjoyment of children’s rights “give rise to obligations of states to take actions to protect against those effects”. It adds the committee overseeing the convention aims to:
Emphasise the urgent need to address the adverse effects of environmental harm and climate change on children.
Promote a holistic understanding of children’s rights as they apply to environmental protection.
Clarify the obligations of States parties to the Convention and provide authoritative guidance on legislative, administrative, and other appropriate measures to be undertaken with respect to environmental issues, with a special focus on climate change.
The general comment also identifies children as agents in their own lives. By extension, this means children have a right to participate in the drafting of environmental policies or laws that will affect them.
For more information, please refer to United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner - General comment No. 26 (2023)
Haeata proudly displaying their māra signs
24/8/23
Emma and Aurora were amazing at preparing the ground and the root bound feijoa for planting.
Tasting some exotic vegetables provided by Sandi including Russian pickled tomatoes, pickled walnuts and jalapenos. There were mixed reactions!!
Justin and Nixie placing the māra sign. The sign was created at their kura and the ākonga signed the post.
Imagination Academy Weekly Visit
21/8/2023
Today the Imagination Academy group got stuck into three different activities during their weekly visit to the CAC.
First up was an Ecology Report on the Ōtakaro River. When it got too windy, they moved inside and added some bottle tops to our campus Wētā.
Finally they spent some time making thumbprint art. Next week they will choose their favourite designs to put on wooden letters to spell the word Whanaungatanga.
Pavers on their way to becoming part of a Herb Garden for the Whare Kai at the Climate Action Campus Ōtautahi.
Pavers on their way to becoming part of a Herb Garden for the Whare Kai at the Climate Action Campus Ōtautahi.
21st August 2023
Evening with the Park Rangers
Tuesday 15th August 2023
On the 15th August we hosted an Evening with the Park Rangers at the Climate Action Campus Ōtautahi. We had a great turn out, especially with it being a chilly winter evening. The Park Rangers brought down lots of exciting things to look at including a stoat, a possum, pest traps, native plants and a huhu grub log, amongst other things. The highlight of the evening with them was two Spotlighting tours into the Red Zone with park ranger Zack. The tours managed to spot some rabbits and possums along the way.
Elsewhere on the campus, visitors had fun doing treasure hunts and quizzes, roasting marshmallows and cooking damper bread over the fire pit, watching Department of Conservation Mini Documentaries and enjoying the delicious food from the food trucks in attendance. Hot chocolate and warm spiced apple juice were served as rewards for completing the quiz and treasure hunt, and yummy soup, cheese rolls and chilli made at the Climate Action Campus went down a treat with guests too.
Thank you to everyone who got stuck in with the Wētā bottle top collage- it’s going to look fantastic when it's finished and up on the wall.
And finally a big thank you to everyone who helped out on the evening- it wouldn’t have been such a great success without your mahi and support.
The next big event at the CAC will be later this term. On the 23rd September we are holding an Open Day and Spring Market- all welcome.
Para Kore Waste Check with Miriama. 9/8/2023
Para Kore Waste Check with Miriama. 9/8/2023
Today Mariama frokm Para Kore returned to the Campus to help u conduct a waste check. We collected all the waste from the Whare and the Whare Kai to analyse.
Initial thoughts- the amount of waste was not vast. This is largely down to our "take your waste home" policy in action across the campus. The egg cartons and milk bottles in the picture we collect to store worm castings and to put the chicken's eggs in.
Miriama gave us some great suggestions for managing and reducing the remainder of the waste- she will write it up into a report for us which we will share.
Freya and Autumn from Ao Tawhiti making a start on a nature mural at the Climate Action Campus Ōtautahi today. 7th August 2023
Burnside Primary B5 students visited CAC
Burnside Primary B5 students visited CAC
The boulder copper butterfly is endemic to Canterbury and requires support because their habitat has been diminished. Burnside Primary and their teacher Bianca Woyack have built habitats at their kura and Orana Park and came to teach us.
They explained about the Boulder Copper Butterfly and it's preferred habitat
They explained about the Boulder Copper Butterfly and it's preferred habitat
Ao Tawhiti students enjoyed the students presentation and slides which explained how we can provide a suitable habitat at CAC
The location we chose to create the habitat
The location we chose to create the habitat
The students visited the site for the habitat, talked about the good things the site offers and the potential threats which we can try to manage. We then went back to class to draft some design ideas.
Congratulations Egg Competition Winners
Congratulations Egg Competition Winners
Congratulations to Pasco and Toby for winning the egg carton label competition and congratulations to Harper for winning the sign competition. Hope you enjoy your prize (some of our fresh free range eggs of course)!
Matariki Day with Haeata Kōmanawa Years 1-8
Matariki Day with Haeata Kōmanawa Years 1-8
Great visit from Haeata Kōmonawa Years 1-8. The day was spent participating in Matariki activites, cooking kai, roasting marshmallows over the fire pit, nature play on the Lightening Tree, meeting the hei hei, stencil painting and much more.
Kings Seed Magazine Finalists
Kings Seed Magazine Finalists
Congratulations to Sandi Bobkova (horticulturist at the CAC) for making the finalists in the Kings Seed Photo Competition. Great photographs showing the amazing kai harvested from our gardens this year. Check out the size of that pumpkin!
St Peter's Planning Session
St Peter's Planning Session
St Peter's students have been busy planning what they want to grow in their tunnel house this term. As part of their Religious Education Studies they will be growing kai to share with their local community and those in need.
Our new outdoor classroom set up for seedlings in the nursery on Campus
Our new outdoor classroom set up for seedlings in the nursery on Campus
Matariki in the Red Zone
Matariki in the Red Zone
The Climate Action Campus was invited to decorate three olive trees in Richmond Community Garden as part of their Makariki in the Red Zone Initiative. Our trees were decorated to represent Waitā, the star of salt water and its creatures. We decorated the trees with recycled materials, sea shells, sea creatures drawn and decorated by students from Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery School and a collection of items that unfortunately end up in our seas and oceans to highlight the issue of single use plastics.
Waitā
Waitā is connected to the many kinds of food that are gathered from the sea and saltwater. Ōruapaeroa/Travis Wetlands was a site known to become linked to the sea where pioke/rigsharks, pātiki and tuna/eel were caught.
Ao Tawhiti students painted stencils of these fish on the ground around our firepit surrounds.
Matariki with Ao Tawhiti Year 7 - 9
Matariki with Ao Tawhiti Year 7 - 9
Year 7,8 & 9 students and their Learning Advisors and support Kaiako enjoyed three mornings engaging in Matariki workshops at the campus. With each workshop aligning with each of the 9 stars of Matariki they managed to explore the Ōtakaro/Avon river, build predator traps in order to protect our manu and hua whenua, weave harakeke stars and ti kouka string plus enjoyed cooking kumara chips in the whare kai.
Pōhutakawa
Remembering those who have passed in the last year. We created stars woven from harakeke harvested from the campus.
13th June 2023 Livy & Whatuariki
We are two year 13 students from Te Ao Tawhiti who are working on a sustainable action for our EFS class. We came out to the Climate Action Campus today and learnt a lot about the composting process, as well as building our own compost! Some of the things we learnt include
Composting with Sandi
Composting with Sandi
Some of the things we learnt include different methods of composting like trenching, worm farms, and Bokashi. When we built our compost we alternated layers of greens and browns like lasagna layers (green, brown, green etc)! Greens can be organics (high in nitrogen) whereas browns are dead (carbon rich). This is
important for the compost because our compost will take around 6 months to break down into good dark soil. Our layers were grass clippings, leaves, coffee husks and coffee grinds. Our method of composting is effective because there are gaps in the box to promote aeration, allowing the compost/soil to breathe.
Ōtautahi Nature Play Group
Ōtautahi Nature Play Group
Ōtautahi Nature Play Group came to the Climate Action Campus to play in the Red Zone and gardens. They had great fun exploring in the sandpit, climbing the Lightening Tree, having a picnic and investigated the food forest.
Food Waste Challenge
Food Waste Challenge
31st May 2023
Today Kate Armours Level 4 class from Te Ao Tawhiti participated in a Food Waste Challenge at the Climate Action Campus.
They were given a tour of the campus and shown the chickens, the compost bins, the worm farms and the garden. We discussed different ways in which we could recycle food waste that isn't fit for human consumption.
Then the students entered the whare kai for their food challenge. Each group of 2-4 students was presented with a board of leftover food including food harvested from the gardens on campus, some leftover pizza dough and chocolate icing from a previous event, some scraps of sourdough etc. They also had a selection of pantry staples available for them to use.Each group then had 90 minutes to create something delicious that would use up all their scraps.
The group showed great creativity and came up with a wide variety of dishes including chocolate dough balls, vegetable curry with cauliflower rice, garlic, herb and garden greens pizza bread, vegetable soup & a quiche.
Meridian Planting Day
Meridian Planting Day
On Monday 22 May, several volunteers came from Meridian to work with tamariki from Ao Tawhiti to plant native trees. This was part of the tūī corridor project, which aims to entice the tūī into the red zone.
Between them, students and volunteers planted 260 native trees and plants, and then enjoyed some yummy kai that Rachel and Catherine whizzed up using ingredients from the gardens.
Massive thanks to the volunteers from Meridian for their time and energy, and to rachel and catherine for their delicious cooking. Special thanks to the Park Rangers Zane and Hana who came at very short notice and taught the students about quality control, which gave the trees a fighting chance!
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