Hilltop School’s Outdoor Classroom

Plants collected and ready to take to their new home at the school!

Hilltop School had a great idea to revamp an outdoor classroom area at their school, so that it could be used by classes. The space was once used by many students at break times, so the large native trees had no understory, just hardpacked soil. However, a recent fence around the field excluded the area, giving it some protection from hundreds of feet. The students thought it was a great opportunity to turn it into a real forest area with paths and seating for classes that wanted to take their learning outside. They applied to Kids Greening Taupō for the Contact Energy Take Action Fund.

Planning out the site and marking paths and planting areas

As the area already has established native trees creating a canopy, it is the perfect spot to re-home native seedlings that have popped up in a plantation forest. If left there, these plants would be destroyed when the trees were harvested. Saving them and replanting them under a canopy like this one is a great way to create an instant, free, native understory.

We contacted Jackie from NZ Forest Managers and asked her for help. She took a group of Hilltop School students out ‘plant hunting’ in a plantation forest on Wairakei Drive. Our coordinator, Rachel, showed the students how to dig up native plants keeping their roots intact and keeping as much soil as possible around them. We were able to get hundreds of native seedlings, ferns, and ground covers to replant in the outdoor classroom area.

The students leading the project, spray painted paths and areas to plant, then everyone pitched in and planted a forest! It looked amazing when they had finished. Hopefully, these plants like their new home and thrive in their new forest.

We can’t wait to see the rest of this project take shape!