Enviro+Profile

The students Enviro Team is capably lead by teachers John Hooper, supported by Sarah Greenslade and also given strong support by parents and community members.

//Enviro Team History//
We have had an Environmental team since 2003 with numbers growing each year starting with 5 students in 2003 and growing to 43 students in 2008. As we have such large numbers we have a full meeting week 1, a senior meeting week 2 (Yr6-8), and a junior meeting (Yr3-5) plus Chairperson, Vice Chair-Persons and Secretaries week 3.

//Vision (Major Projects / Projects Being Maintained)//
Over the past 5 years we have: removed the old incinerator that burned rubbish, developed: a worm farm area with 2 plastic ones and 5 home made ones out of tyres, 2 compost piles, an organic garden, a native rock garden outside some senior classes, an orchard (33 trees)developed a bird house area, created a native nursery, created native gardens by R15, placed mulch on many of our gardens, replaced damaged trees. Our main projects for 2008 are: To develop a native garden between the junior classes around the sand-pit.Our community project is to stop the local district council dumping green waste and household rubbish next to State Highway 77 to Methven off Oak Grove.We hope to be involved in planting at Lake Heron-The new heritage park.We are establishing partnerships with:DOC, Ashburton District Council, Wastebusters,Forest & Bird, Farm & Forestry, RX Plastics.We communicate with Craigievar School a green/gold school in Aberdeen, Scotland.We also host school and community visits and partake in the Clean Green Awards, Wastebusters Recycled Fashion Parade.

//Acknowledgments//
For most projects we have had the help of local organisations such as -


 * Braam and Martin Landscaping
 * Trees for Canterbury
 * Wastebusters Recycle Plant
 * Allenton Nurseries
 * RX Plastics

RX Plastics donated a 500 and 2000 litre water tank.Thanks to:Nikita a Year 4 Student Andrew a Year 7 Student. We have also received a grant of $1000 from the Ministry of Environment to help manage costs on our main school project the new sand-pit garden.

//Education//
We have learnt that to complete what we want to do everyone MUST co-operate and that it is good to have others opinions / suggestions / impressions but that not all ideas are practical and possible to achieve results. We are happy to talk and share ideas with other schools. We would love to hear from you. We are always open to new ideas to help the environment. Just write to:- Ashburton Borough SchoolEnvironmental TeamWinter StreetAshburton 7700 Or e-mail:- john.hooper@ashborugh.school.nz subject line- Environmental Ideas

Ashburton Borough School Profile proudly compiled by Alisha (Secretary) and Ross (Chairperson)