The school in Halswell aims to be rubbish-free by 2021.
Staff, students and its dedicated Eco-Warrior group have been coming up with ways to achieve that and improve their local environment.
The school has almost finished a $5 million redevelopment, which includes construction of three new buildings and refurbishment of the school’s original red brick blocks.
Eco-Warrior champion and teacher Caroline Martin said pupils have been asked to think about how they and the school can improve their local environment.
“If we want to make the school rubbish-free we have to ensure pupils are part of how we get there.
The Eco Warriors have played a big role in that but all pupils have been involved in one way or another.
"For the past year we have been holding rubbish-free lunch days and have been delighted to see every time we hold one, the rubbish bought to school is less.
"We recently held a toy swap where students bought items they no longer use and, if they wanted, could take another item home.
"We had some really great toys bought in and some pretty happy children.”
Pupils are also learning about recycling, with some classes visiting the city council’s recycling plant to learn about what can and can’t be recycled.
They will be going home to their families and sharing their new knowledge, Martin said.
The redeveloped school will have no rubbish bins. A chicken coop and community orchard and gardens will be reinstated as part of the landscaping.
Martin said the Eco-Warriors won the national junior division of the Community Problem Solving competition in 2019, earning the right to take part in the international competition in the United States in 2020.
Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, the team could not travel to the US but instead took part in a global virtual competition.
“We were highly commended for the video we created to outline our project and enjoyed challenging ourselves to compete in this new and exciting way.”
- By Kim Thomas
