Environment Waikato will grant a total of $9,500 for two projects involving Waikato schools. 

The council confirmed Enviroschools grant funding today, awarding $5,000 to the Waikato Institute for Leisure and Sport Studies (WILSS) towards a programme which will teach students about the impacts of consumption and consumerism on sustainability. Funding of $4,500 has also been awarded to Hautapu primary school towards a raised vegetable garden project involving the entire school, parents and wider community.

Following the success of its pilot programme in 2009, the Waikato Institute for Leisure and Sport Studies (WILSS) will work with schools in the region to teach students about consumption and how consumerism impacts on the sustainability of the planet’s resources. Through 8 to 10 sessions, students will be supported, and leadership skills encouraged, as they plan, implement and evaluate their schools’ activities and events.

The EIF funding granted will contribute to 17 per cent of the total cost of the programme.

Hautapu primary school is an Enviroschool in the Waipa district. The funding granted will enable the school to set up raised vegetable gardens as a learning resource involving all 202 students and their teachers. The children will learn how to grow their own vegetables, collect rainwater and compost organic waste from their lunches to enhance the sustainability of their gardens.

The school, which achieved an Enviroschools Bronze award in 2008, is contributing its annual Enviroschools budget of $1,000.

The council acknowledged the opportunities in both projects for significant student involvement and ownership of environmental education initiatives that meet the Enviroschools funding criteria.

For more information on the Enviroschools programme, contact Dean King at 0800 800 401 or visit www.ew.govt.nz/for-schools/enviroschools.