Fernside School has won the Schools Division Award at this year’s Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Awards for its ``Protect Our Braided River Birds" project.

The annual awards, which are run by the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board to recognise and encourage conservation efforts and achievements in Canterbury, have three divisions: schools, small groups and an open section.

This year’s award winners were announced during an event held in Christchurch last Thursday evening.

The overall winner for the highest scoring project was Trees For Canterbury, a not-for-profit community organisation in Christchurch.

The board’s deputy chairwoman, Courtney Bennett, said Fernside School was a “very deserving winner" of the schools division.

`The Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board was especially impressed by the way Fernside School’s project connected learning, service, and advocacy together in this student-led project," she said.

"It can’t be overstated how important it is to teach our tamariki how to effectively use their voices to advocate for things that they care about."

During work on the project, the school’s Year 2/3 students, led by their teacher, Anita Ward, spent time along the Ashley-Rakahuri River near Rangiora as part of their Enviro Schools learning.

They explored the braided river environment, met the Ashley-Rakahuri Rivercare Group’s Nick Ledgard, learnt about the native birds, including the nationally threatened wrybill/ngutu pare, and discovered the insects and other invertebrates these birds rely on for food.

Earlier this year, they also shared their learning and advocacy at Waimakariri Enviroschools Student Leaders Day, connecting with other young people taking action for braided rivers, and created a petition: "Protect Our Braided River Birds _ Support a Seasonal Bylaw", which they presented to Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon and the Environmental Canterbury Regional Council. The petition can be signed online at: change.org and now has more than 940 signatures.

The pupils also created a short film, A Voice For Our Wrybills, for the inaugural Waimakariri Young Environmental Film Makers competition held earlier this year. Their film finished second in the competition and will now be entered in the One Earth Film Festival in Chicago next year.

Anita said it had been an exciting year and being acknowledged at the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Awards awards meant a lot to her, the pupils and the school.

“We appreciate the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board for recognising the children’s efforts and for supporting the next generation of conservationists. I am incredibly proud of what the children have achieved," she said.

“I look forward to building on this work and driving conservation efforts across our school, empowering more of our students to find their voices, take action and make a difference in our community.

"As a teacher, I feel incredibly fortunate to be in a position where I can inspire others,'' she said.

"Children listen to us, and that means we have a responsibility to make what we say count.

"As a teacher, there is something incredibly special about watching children discover a cause they care deeply about and realising that they have the power to create change. The wrybills may have started this journey, but I have a feeling this is only the beginning."