Our project

Paparoa Street Year 6’s from Whenua went to Rutland Reserve to meet Denis McMurtrie on a challenging but exciting mission to plant trees in the local area to our school. The aim was to restore the ecosystem so in the future we could have lots of birds and other animals coming to a nice new place to call home.

Benefits to our community

As there are animals on the other side of the small channel of water, people are building houses on the other side of the reserve. This could cause all the Weka and the Pukeko to run over to our side of the Rutland Reserve only to find out that they have nowhere to live. Oh no! Which is exactly why we are planting trees to help benefit the ecosystem.

Our learning

Denis McMurtrie told us that the plants need lots of moisture and care to make sure that nothing goes wrong. As in a few years time, there will be 900 houses on the other side of the reserve and the animals will have to come over to this side.
We volunteered for this program and gave up an hour of our time to dig, plant and cover the seedlings with a cardboard cover.
It feels great to give our time to the local community and support this initiative.

Value to the students - teachers perspective

As part of a developing mentoring program, this event goes towards their 'service' points for the week.