What happened in 2020?

Ratapiko School: Sustainability efforts earns school silver enviro award

A highlight of the 2020 year was receiving our Silver Enviro Award.

We have been working towards this over the past twelve months and celebrated the achievement on October 14th.

See the Stratford Press article at: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/stratford-press/news/ratapiko-school-sustainability-efforts-earns-school-silver-enviro-award/QXL75J7BJKYJBS3NSU7Z5FBR6M/

What happened inTerm 4

Term 4 saw some important events: Annual Lamb and Calf Day, Silver Enviro Award celebration, the Sustainable Backyard Trail, end of year camp and prize giving.

Our unit of learning was around: What do we need to know to be able to be healthy in all I do – at home, at school, in my community?

Continuing on from our anxiety and well-being work in term 3, we supported the tamariki to strengthen their resilience and positive self image. We worked through the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme for the Years 1-4 and Positive Puberty Years 5-8..

Alongside this learning we went to Konini Lodge for the senior camp. The tamariki were involved in: setting the menu, working out the budget, learning survival skills, working with Doc, building stamina and developing strong friendships.

Camp

camp revew

Participants ready to compete

Lambs

Calves

Silver Award

What happened in Term 3

We are looking next term at: Taranaki and its History

We explored the history of Taranaki. We looked at how Taranaki was changed during the Land Wars, visited local pa sites and share our local stories.

Our kura has also been involved in the mass Te Kāhui Ako o Kohanga Moa Kapa Haka group. Six of our senior students participated in learning five Taranaki waiata and will perform for the Puanga festival in New Plymouth with an estimated 1200 students across Taranaki.

Alongside our Turangawaewae learning we worked on unpacking our school vision and values. Do these still encompass who we are? As our school has grown, and we’ve seen our learning spaces change and our values of manaakitanga (kindness) and whanaungatanga (relationships) develop. We have so many new voices now, and it's time for our tamariki to revisit what we have and make it their own

Preparing for Silver Award

Predator tracking

Pukerangiora Pa site

Emily tree identifucaion

Ratapiko school is trapping for Trapping NZ

FIELD TRIP POEM

Tree planting

Tree planting 2

Tree Planting at Dravitzki's Farm

What happened in Term 2!

Re-engaging in our learning community

With the constantly changing learning environments since the 25th March, Ratapiko School has continued to support and provide learning from home.

As of the 18th May we have been back at school. We have made our physical and emotional well-being a priority. In doing this we took note of the learning and activities our tamariki were experiencing at home. In our first week back we mixed the learning up a bit with short learning session, outdoor sessions and a new 20 minute fitness time too.

Here's what we've done so far... (click on the stories to open the full documents)

On the first enviro day after the COVID19 lockdown we did lots of fun activities to brighten up the gardens or for ourselves like making beanies and cooking yummy food

Our Paver Pathway

During the Level 2 Lockdown we had three learners onsite, during that time we worked on our garden and planted seedlings in our bottle house. Here are the tamariki in action:

What happened in Term 1!

Building a Sustainable Community

Over Term 1 we explored how Ratapiko fits in and how we can continue to make our school and community sustainable through our Environmental learning.

We explored during the term:

Classroom community – firstly we built strong working communities with in our classrooms. We - got to know where we fit into Ratapiko. Using Google Earth we mapped where we all live, where our community lives, what our community assets are, our history of families in Ratapiko, where our Marae is, where our Taranaki landmarks are and what our local and cultural history is within our community.
Worked with DoC to do a BioBlitz (what plants, animals and ecosystems) are part of our school / community. Set predator traps around the school and now sell these to do our bit to help move towards our 2050 predator free Taranaki goal.
Farm visit (postponed due to COVID19) – looking at our farming practises and see how they enhance and impact on our environment i.e. ripen planting, river health, animal health, pest control, rural support.
Community spirit – what happens in the Ratapiko Community and School to include, involve and build our community?

We look forward to finding out more about ourselves and our community in Term 2.

If you have stories or knowledge about the Ratapiko Community please share it with us!

Bio Blitz

Stringing the bottle house