Schools Behind Our River
Schools Behind Our River was launched in 2020 to support teachers and students with hands-on conservation and restoration projects that connect youth with their local ecosystems and environmental heritage.
In 2024, funding support helped the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust achieve the following deliverables:
- Gifted 2600 native plants to 15 schools
- sponsored one House of Science Water Analysis Kit
- supplied 27 schools with predator traps and tracking equipment
- Supplied Seed Propagation Kits to 4 schools
- funded 7 Overnight Experience school trips to the Pukaha Wildlife Centre
- Funded 2 'Noticing Nature Kits' for 7 Schools
- sponsored Ruud Kleinpaste to visit 5 schools
- Issued 16 Conservation Award certificates for school prizegivings
- produced 4 educational videos
- Supported role of Environmental Education Lead
As our long-term signature project, SCHOOLS BEHIND OUR RIVER continued to expand its reach and effectiveness throughout the school year.
Restoration Plantings
Chanel College received 430 plants for the Kuripuni Stream; Chanel College recruited 120 ākonga and keen teachers to first clear away the rubbish and
weeds followed by the planting of carex secta grasses along the stream bank;
Kahutara School received 227 plants for the Mangatete Wetland and a further 60 trees for Rod and Jane Riddiford’s Reo o te Wai project along with 100 native trees planted by Martinborough School students.
St. Teresa’s School Years 5-8 students received 300 carex secta and sedges for restoration work along Donald’s Creek; Fernridge School received 250 plants for planting between native bush and a bike track; while Masterton Intermediate School continued their hard work restoring sections of the Kuripuni Stream; St. Mary’s received 156 plants for a restoration planting along Hughes Line; and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Wairarapa marked Matariki by planting 101 trees in their recently created school forest site.
Students from Solway School and Solway College together received 150 plants; Lakeview School 335 plants; St. Matthews Collegiate and Rathkeale College together planted 134 native plants in and around their campus; Dalefield School placed 34 plants along their fence line; and Kuranui College students planted 250 plants alongside their school stream.
In total, the Trust distributed 2,600 plants to 15 schools. All sites were inspected in advance by our planting advisor Trevor Thompson, who also advised each of the schools what to plant and where.
Receiving the plants is one thing but taking good care of them is another. For this reason, our Education Lead, Karin Stillberg, has prepared planting advice materials for the students and teachers, covering how to plant, how to manage weed control, and how to ensure adequate watering over the summer months. It is not our intention to inundate the schools with plants they cannot take care of. A high level of need, commitment, and responsibility has to be evident to ensure not only the success of these plantings but also our ongoing support.
Outdoor Learning Kits
In 2024, the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust added Seed Propagation Kits to the list of outdoor learning materials and resources already funded and supported in collaboration either with the House of Science, Enviroschools Wairarapa or Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre, Support and funding of these resources allows schools to save on costs and provides students with access to fun, practical, materials that stimulate their curiosity and engagement for outdoor learning.
Enviroschools works with schools to empower young people to be part of creating sustainable communities. Collaborating with the education team at Pūkaha brought in the expertise and hard experience around tracking and trapping; while teaming up with the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust has further empowered local schools with the much-needed funding of a wider range of traps and tracking technology, with the trust supplying any equipment needed to support their mahi in schools.
27 schools now have tracking and trapping equipment supplied by the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust, with two more schools in the process of getting their projects started.
In addition, the trust has funded resource materials for biodiversity field kits. The ‘Noticing Nature’ kits are loaned to schools and topped up when necessary.
In 2024, the trust also continued its sponsorship of the House of Science Wairarapa contributing funds for one Water Analysis kit for use by local primary schools.
School Field Trips
In 2024, the Trust funded five Overnight Experience Trips to the Pūkaha National Wildlife Education Centre, including two for Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Wairarapa and one for the Puāwai Pūrau Academy.
Students from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Wairarapa school shared their experience on a video that notched up over 6,200 views on Facebook. The video underscores the opportunity for youth to be inspired by outdoor learning thanks to their experience exploring the outdoors and staying overnight at places like Te Whare Taiao oManukura in the heart of ngahere. The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust's SCHOOLS BEHIND OUR RIVER project helps fund field school trips like this as a way to inspire local youth to experience the outdoors and to appreciate nature, mātauranga Māori, and the importance of protecting our biodiversity.
'Understanding Nature' Video Series
Following the launch of the short video series in 2023, the Trust produced two more ‘Understanding Nature’ videos in 2024, interviewing students from Ōpaki School and Wairarapa College bringing the total number in the series to three. This long-term project, which continues in 2025, provides youth with a voice to express their views and understanding of the environment and what they know about climate change in context to their community and first-hand experience.
Conservation Awards for Environmental Leadership
In 2022 the Trust commissioned local artist Sam Ludden to create 20 hand-made ceramic trophies for use by the Trust as Conservation Award trophies for local schools. In 2024, the Trust issued 17 signed certificates for students who had been recognised by their schools to win the awards. The trophies and certificates are awarded to students who “best demonstrate principles of kaitiakitanga and leadership skills in environmental conservation, restoration, or innovation within their school and community”.
Project Plan 2025
Our restoration plantings in 2025 will continue to help local schools rewild their school grounds or support off-site restoration. In addition, the Trust will continue to support landowners with the rewilding and restoration of QE2 covenants and other forest remnant blocks deemed worthy of conservation.
Our 2025 Plan for SCHOOLS BEHIND OUR RIVER includes:
- Production of a trifold brochure to introduce schools to what support we can provide, mainly focusing on planting at school and/or off-site. The brochure will also include info about planting/ecosystem class sessions, and the kits and workshops we support/fund.
- A how-to guide for teachers and school ground-staff about planting techniques and aftercare. This aims to avoid unnecessary loss and damage to the plants that we provide.
- Working together with Enviroschools to support schools develop a vision for their school grounds on how to incorporate more wild areas for play and restoration.
- Working together with Trevor Thompson and community/catchment groups to identify public reserves and other wetland areas that need restoration plantings, and then supporting schools to get there to help restore the mauri of the awa and ngahere.
- Continue to deliver class sessions focused on biodiversity, ecosystems, restoration, and proper planting techniques.
The Trust continues to see the value and benefit of investing in outdoor learning resources and materials for students and teachers: supporting schools and helping students to better understand and appreciate biodiversity and the value of their natural world. In line with our collaborative efforts, the Trust will continue to support the following:
- Predator Tracking & Trapping Kit Equipment
- Noticing Nature Kits
- House of Science Water Analysis & Forest Health Kits
- Seed Propagation Kits
- Stream Exploration & eDNA Kits
- Special Event Days
- Restoration Plantings
- Outdoor Learning School Field Trips
- Conservation Awards for Environmental Leadership
Te Ao Māori recognizes the need to consider the connectedness of all things including the past, present, and future. In considering how our future and our community could be impacted by climate change transitions we must consider where we have come from, as well as the wellbeing of current and future generations. This means we must take an inclusive approach to understanding our place and our heritage over time.
The Trust will continue to look for opportunities to fund field trips that support the concept of tiakitanga – being a good guardian or steward of the land and waterways – for the wellbeing of current and future generations of New Zealanders.
In consultation and with the participation of local iwi, we will support field trip activities that invite teachers and students on field trips to natural heritage or historical sites connected to the Ruamahanga – or its tributaries – to help students understand how and why early Maori chose particular sites and how they worked with the land and its resources. This also helps address the values of whanaungatanga – being mindful of the relationship between all things, our connections to each other, and how we connect to our land and manaakitanga – having a deep ethic of care towards people and the whenua, acknowledging their role in the ecosystem, and how they could be affected by future outcomes.
In 2025, the Trust will continue to support school visits to sites and places of interest that provide stories about early Maori presence along the Ruamahanga and its tributaries and to engage in conversation and restoration, including Overnight Experience school field trips to the Pukaha National Wildlife Centre.
As such, we hope to make younger people more aware of their environmental heritage; to learn and understand sustainable use of our waterways and lowland forests and to share their own stories in a way that helps others appreciate the need to restore, protect, and sustain our environment, including how to prepare for and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Beyond 2025
Besides encouraging students to embrace conservation and science to mitigate the effects of climate change, we also have a long-term vision that will encourage youth to take more interest and pride in their environment. Another long-term aim is to see a noticeable increase in native fish species and birdlife.
Most importantly, our long-term vision is to expand the Schools Behind Our River project by engaging and including the wider community and landowners in supporting the restoration and planting of bird-to-bush corridors and ensuring clean waterways and healthy soils, which in turn offer more productive benefits to the wider farming community and all those that live within the catchment.