Welcome to the TREEmendous Education Programme.

TREEmendous was launched in 2007 by the Mazda Foundation to help schools develop exciting new ways to promote environmental literacy.

Over the years we have found that many schools needed more than one area of their school to become an outdoor learning area. We saw opportunities to turn the whole school outdoor area into a learning environment – helping to increase overall environmental literacy.

Created with the help of Mazda Ambassador, Ruud ‘the Bugman’ Kleinpaste, the programme aims to encourage environmental education – teaching children and the wider community about the importance of caring for the environment.

Our exciting new TREEmendous Education Programme encourages even more hands on learning. Ruud works directly with teachers to identify how they can use the environment as a context for Education – helping make it an immersive part of the curriculum.

If you want educators and students from your Primary or Intermediate school to reconnect with our fabulous biodiversity – from plants and bugs to fungi and birds – then apply now for a TREEmendous Education Programme for your school.

You’ll be helping Kiwi kids reconnect with nature and be inspired to take care of the environment for future generations.

TREEmendous Education Programme is all about thinking outside!! – because in the great outdoors, there are no boundaries, only undiscovered treasures!

And we have the perfect duo to come visit your school.

Winning schools will receive a visit from Mazda Ambassadors Ruud ‘the Bugman’ Kleinpaste and Shark Scientist Riley Elliott. They will engage with the whole school to inspire and discuss with our future generations how to care for their environment and let their imaginations run wild!

With the current strong focus on the environment, conservation and restoration around New Zealand, there is a growing demand from educators for resources and capabilities that connect learning to these areas.

Most schools already have an outdoor area which can be used for teaching.

The TREEmendous Education Programme will see Ruud Kleinpaste work directly with teachers at your school to identify how they can capitalise on the current outdoor environment, how it can be enhanced and used – literally – as a teaching resource.

We can also help you to develop a novel education programme for your students to tackle specific projects.

Each of the winning schools will also receive $1,000.

From enhancing biodiversity on your school’s grounds to cleaning up a local waterway or creating habitats for wildlife, commence beekeeping and bird monitoring programmes…the opportunities are endless! (see our TREEmendous Ideas section for inspiration).

TREEmendous Education Programme is a collaborative and evolving model, so let your imagination run wild – no idea is too crazy!

Here are some thought starters to get you and your students thinking about what you could do at your school. These are achievable examples that are already being explored in Aotearoa.

Restoration of your nearby patch of forest, wetland, park or wildland

For example, Coromandel Area School’s Fight to save Whitebait…

After local elders explained that inanga, the smallest species of whitebait, used to travel up the spring from the estuary, the school was determined to revitalise the spring to help save the species which is at risk and in serious decline.

Inanga is the only species of whitebait that can’t climb barriers, which means that creating an environment they can survive in is difficult. The ‘natural corridor’ of plants alongside the spring will help purify the water and protect inanga eggs by acting as an umbrella during the day and a blanket at night.

Student’s carried out extensive research to save New Zealand’s declining whitebait population. Their studies showed this could be done through vegetation restoration. As a result they carried out massive planting of natives and wetland plants alongside the spring that runs through the school’s grounds.

Make your school Predator Free

Create a programme of work that figures out how you can go about doing this. Research and monitor your local exotic predators. Students could develop traps for these predators, working out systems and baits that might show great efficacy.

Monitor and observe how the biodiversity responds to the reduction of predators in the area.

Create habitats for local pollinators

How can your school encourage the most common pollinator species in your school grounds to visit? This could require new planting and observation of things like, how do they operate, what are their “landing rates” on certain flowers; what time of day and in which weather conditions do they visit.

BioBlitz

How many species live on your school grounds? Can we find new species, unknown to Science? How do we record as many life forms that share our school grounds with us?

You can take that a step further, a Primary School in Christchurch is aiming to translocate an undescribed (discovered but not yet formally described and named) species of New Zealand native butterfly back into the city.

The project will take several years, from building the right habitat to liaising with local iwi and studying the butterfly’s ecology, its relationships with other butterflies and, ultimately, naming the insect.

There are many other practical applications for students and teachers alike, covering a wide range of the curriculum: science, social studies, art, literacy, numeracy and Ruud’s favourite: biomimicry!

TREEmendous Education Programme Applications

Please complete all fields below – tell us about your school and how a TREEmendous Education Programme will make a difference to your school. What kind of Environmental project could your school work on and how your school would use the $1,000 if you won.

Note: entries close 22 September 2023, end of Term 3.

Our 2023 TREEmendous Education Programme winners have been chosen!

A huge thank you to all of the schools across the country who applied to win a Treemendous Education Programme to take place in 2023. It was incredible to see your enthusiasm for the environment and it was a difficult task choosing the five winners!

Congratulations to the following five winning schools who will receive a TREEmendous Education Programme in 2023:

• Devonport Primary School, Auckland
• Matangi School, Waikato
• Nelson Intermediate School, Nelson
• St Joseph’s School, Manawatu
• Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Mangatuna, East Coast

We look forward to visiting them in 2023 to help them develop their own unique TREEmendous Education Programme and helping to increase overall environmental literacy.

If you missed out this year, don’t worry. Applications to win a TREEmendous Education Programme will open again in January 2023!

Devonport Primary School

Devonport Primary School in Auckland has a small area at their school that they call ‘the forest’ and over the last two years they have established a delightful forest classroom – Akomanga Ngahere. The school promotes student engagement through outdoor education – learning in the forest, learning about the forest and learning from the forest and want to capitalise on their Akomanga Ngahere as a natural teaching resource.

Nelson Intermediate School

Nelson Intermediate School is passionate about creating a positive mauri ora (sense of wellbeing) for all students, providing programmes that reflect the values, aspirations and needs of their students. The school would like to establish two beehives so students can use this living system to support learning and connect with the natural environment while also developing science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) skills.

Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Mangatuna

Nestled in the heart of Te Tairawhiti on the beautiful East Coast, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Mangatuna school would like to further develop their connections to the local taiao (environment). They have established ‘Whenua Wenerei’ – Landmarks Wednesday – a day the school dedicate to the environment. The school is eager to continue expanding their students’ knowledge and implement an environmental programme for the students to make the most of their natural environment and ensure that it is around for future generations to enjoy.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or queries please contact us via email: info@treemendous.org.nz.

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