College enviro effort strikes silver

MAYOR Alan Livingston visits to congratulate Te Awamutu College teacher Andrea Soanes, principal Tony Membery and students (from left) Anthony Richards, Wayne Pool and Kane Amohanga. 352071AD

By Cathy Asplin

Most people are hanging up silver decorations at this time of the year, but Te Awamutu College is proudly putting up another kind of ‘silver’.

A large plaque is being erected to mark an Enviroschools’ Silver Award, going one better than the Bronze Award the College received last year.

No-one could be happier or prouder of the achievement than teacher, Andrea Soanes, a passionate environmental educator.

“Students today must be more aware of the world around them and value the environment. It’s not good enough to just concentrate on their academic requirements, we need to do more than that, we certainly can’t ignore the state of the planet any longer.”

Ms Soanes says there has been a significant culture shift at the College - both staff and students - when it comes to caring for the environment.

“We are working towards a clean, green sustainable environment.”

Projects this year have included supporting Te Awamutu Primary pupils with plant propagation, developing a vermicomposting unit (worm farm) in conjunction with Fonterra and helping plant along the banks of the Mangapiko Stream.

In the congratulatory letter sent to Te Awamutu College by Dean King it was noted that to be an award recipient, schools need to have achieved a comprehensive set of criteria towards a sustainable school.

“The development of the teaching and learning opportunities for environmental education have been strengthened and enabled a more school-wide approach to be undertaken. The ongoing promotion of the Envirogroup through newsletters and assemblies has further strengthened positive environmental attitudes and actions. Te Awamutu College has a number of community links which have supported the development of environmental education in the school. The ongoing connection with the Mangapiko Stream demonstrates the breadth and depth of student learning which has informed their decisions and actions. The support of Te Awamutu Primary with plant propagation is an important example of strengthening the capacity of local students to engage in environmental education. We look forward to the Enviroschools process and action projects being consolidated and sustained in 2008.”