Our school as a sanctuary

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Attracting manu

Further down this page you can see the foundational work in 2023 for a focus on attracting more species to our school including our bioblitz and visit to Brook Waimarama Sanctuary.

We simply could not believe our eyes in term 4 of 2024 to see not only a matched pair of pūtangitangi (endemic duck) waddling about on our field (and trying to quack their way into the classrooms!) but also a Matuku Moana (white-faced heron) nesting in a tree near our main entrance.

The matuku nest welcomed the heron back in term 3 of 2025 and we have simply loved seeing two new babies hatch and fledge this year

This tree continues to be a great source of interest for tamariki, kaiako and visitors to our school. We feel like it is a reward for all our hard work to protect te taiao and hope she will return to nest every year

We have taken a LOT of photos and videos of the matuku and her baby.

Attracting pollinators

Creating a pollinator pathway has been a big dream at our kura. We have researched the kinds of plants that butterflies like and learned about the importance of bees to biodiversity. Bees support the plants on our whenua and the plants help us to breathe.

Now that this area is established, it is being nurtured by our very youngest tamariki in Seaview Hub for 2025.

Harvesting seeds

"During Garden to Table we learned how plants spread their seeds. We collected seeds from plants that butterflies like and we stored them til the season changed."

Iya and Lucy

Raising seedlings

"Tuakana/Teina time was spent germinating the seeds and raising them in our classrooms. Some went home during the holidays - some made it through alive!" Arden and Ava

Preparing the soil

"Luckily, the Friday Fri-Yay group loves to dig! It was exciting to finally be preparing the area to put our plants into. We found lots of good worms too."

Ethan and Lewis

Attracting tamariki

We want our school to be a sanctuary for the tamariki and the other tangata who use our space. So, we asked the kids ...

What would make your days happier? What could we add to our school environment that you would enjoy?

These spaces make our kura more inclusive and are hoped to have a positive effect on attendance data.

Creation Station

Inside our tinker shed you can find materials to make huts, create imaginary lands and act out stories.

Willow House

Nature spaces allow us to create our own worlds and games.

Harakeke Bank

This is where we roll, dig and hide! So many fun games. We also harvest our harakeke for weaving and artwork.

Sunshine Space

A calm, inviting room where you can take a break, deescalate or refocus.

New Shade Sail

A beatuful new shaded area

Jellystone Park

Nobody knows how it got its name!

Māui Murals

Make our school colourful and highlight our values.

Whānau Room

This is where we eat together for breakfast club and Garden to Table.

Tuakana Teina

Mimicking the concept from Te Ao Māori, our five year olds are matched with a Yr5 buddy. They spend time together each week, fostering a friendship.

Buddy Classes

In Terms 1 and 3 we spend time each Friday with our buddy classes. We read together, create art, share our learning and take walks.

Fri-Yays

In Terms 2 and 4 we run fun, 'opt in' enrichment activities on Fridays. Teachers run the activities based on what students ask for.

Enviro Group

Our ākonga are the heart of our kura and they are the ones with all the great ideas about what we should do next! Enviro group gives them a voice.

Careful Choices

🌳 After reading recent research into the toxic effects of chemicals commonly used to mark athletics tracks in Aotearoa, we decided to opt for simple mown lines. Kaitiaki Karen takes every opportunity to make sustainable choices.

🌳 We use sawdust in our long jump pit instead of sand. It is a by-product of local industry, rather than creating demand for quarried sand and much cheaper!

🌳 Our Tinker Shed is locally made from sustainable timber. Imported tin sheds are cheaper but we understand the value of investing in a product with better long term outcomes for our community and the environment.

🌳 When our hall and library needed upgrading, we took the opportunity to use eco friendly products and practices including sourcing low impact paint.

🌳 Our chair pads in the staff room and hall wore out. We have had them for ages. Gardening Gran and Kaitiaki Karen recovered them in green fabric. This saved us money and meant the old chairs didnt got to the dreadful landfill.

Weaving our cultural identity

We have 18 panels on our fence. In 2024 each class designed something to go on our fence that represents the cultures of our school and things that our tamariki think are important at our kura. This connected with our whole school inquiry about ‘Who we Are’ and our Enviroschools work to foster a culture of care, inclusion and connection. During one of our whānau engagement days, tamariki wove some of their designs alongside their buddy from our weekly tuakana/teina time.

Tumuaki Camilla and Kaitiaki Karen have put a LOT of hard work into this stunning project and together, they completed it in term 3 of 2025, just before we farewelled Camilla.

Know better = do better!

Our school sign had a little work done on it to correct the te reo Māori of our school vision. Our mana whenua helped us by sharing that ‘Ngātahi’ is the more appropriate word to represent our intention than 'Kōtahi'.

Our school vision is really at the heart of all that we do at Birchwood. We’re focussed on working together with our amazing community to make our school a great place to learn and grow.

“Ngātahi te ako, Ngātahi te tipu”

“Together we learn, together we grow”

Our new uniform also has our school vision & whakatauki on it.

Bioblitz 2023

"In March, we conducted a bioblitz to determine which creatures lived on our school grounds. We used iNaturalist on our iPads to identify what we found. All the kids were involved and we worked together to check out the whole school. We realised we did not have much diversity at school. " Sadie & Aria 2023

With the goal of making our school a sanctuary, we set about enticing back some of the missing species. We want our school to be safe and welcoming.

"What do we need to make, change, build or grow at school?"

We continue with this driving question throughout 2024 with the bioblitz experience inspiring our work on the pollinator pathway and intend to conduct one every second year.

Here is the link to our BIRCHWOOD BIOBLITZ

Logging our finds on iNaturalist

Photographing bees.

What is that creature?

Taking a closer look.

Brook Waimārama Visits

As part of our biennial EOTC plan, every class travels to the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary. "We learned a lot about the protected species there, the threat of introduced pests and were inspired with ideas about how to make our school a sanctuary. We thought about how the whenua would have looked before the first people arrived and linked this to our learning about tuna, pouakai (Haast's eagle) and the life cycle of plants." Myah.

"What actions could we take at school to invite more creatures?"

When we are quiet, the birds are louder and easier to count.

Learning about the sanctuary and why it has a fence.

A beech glade classroom, made with help from Ngāti Kuia.

The special Ngāti Kuia stone in the beech glade classroom.

Waharoa

The narrative gifted to us by Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō was the inspiration for the waharoa design and the figurehead of our waharoa is Māui.

We also felt the reference to Māui connected to Te Tauihu and the mahi happening with Te Kahui Mātauranga o Te Tauihu - particularly 'Ngā Kawatau me ngā Tūmanakotanga o Te Tauihu - the aspirations and expectations of Te Tauihu'.

The waharoa was designed by Fayne Robinson and made and installed by Brent Brownlee of Art Fetiche. We were excited to host whānau for the dawn blessing of our waharoa in term three of 2023.

Creatives in Schools

In 2023 we got some funding from Creatives in Schools and we used it for this project. The mural is called our place our space because we want our students and their whānau to feel connected to our school and remember our whakatauki - ngātahi te tipu, ngātahi te ako (together we learn, together we grow).

"We were so lucky to be able to work with Ronald Petley who is a really good carver and an amazing artist. A lot of different kids got to work on the mural. We started by choosing colours then we learned about the meanings of the designs and how to work together to get it done." Taylor.

Deciding on the colour scheme

Planning the panel positions

Starting on the kōwhaiwhai

Working with Ronald

Ata & Oho

Our SENCO Mrs DG has started exploring the use of some new resources to help ākonga thrive at our kura. Ata and Oho were collaboratively designed with schools, ākonga & whānau to help teachers notice and respond to social and emotional learning using two of the key competencies: Managing self and Relating to others.

Ata supports teaching and learning social and emotional skills, knowledge, and strategies.

Oho strengthens social and emotional learning by exploring the connections between ourselves and the world.

Titiro Whakamua - Looking Ahead

Pollinator Pathway

"We have designed a space to attract bees and butterflies into our school. A lot of time and research went into choosing the plants!" Sophie.

The perfect area has been chosen and we grew the plants in classrooms and at home until we were ready to hoe the space and plant. We just got this started recently on a small scale but the dream is for it to extend right along the fenceline.

For the birds

We designed bird feeders to go around our school and researched the types of trees and bushes which will attract more birds.

Raising babies

We would love to have a seedling nursery and a greenhouse at our kura.

Titiro Whakamuri - Looking Back

In 2022 the lovely guys from The Menz Shed Richmond made us some garden beds form timber donated by Mitre10.

We got to use drills to put them together and Kaitiaki Karen got free soil from her neighbour.

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