Taupō Intermediate Weedy Gully to Outdoor Classroom
June 2020- Discovering the overgrown gully space
In 2020 KGT rangers at Taupō Intermediate took KGT coordinator, Rachel, around the back of some classrooms to show her their new raised garden beds. Rachel noticed something else. There were native birds flying into a jungle of weeds beside them, and she could see the tops of some native trees poking through the blanket of jasmine and ivy. She realised that there were actually established native trees onsite that were struggling with weeds, while on the other side of the school the rangers were desperately trying to get a new restoration planting to establish and survive in the pumice soil. It crossed Rachel’s mind that they really should focus on rescuing these trees first, but the task seemed too huge. The area was ‘out of bounds’, the weeds were so thick that no one could even enter the gully to see what the ground was like or how large the area was. The project was far too big for the little group of rangers to take on.
Then at the beginning of 2021 Blue Light Taupō coordinator, Andrea, contacted Rachel and explained that they would be running a programme called Te Iti Ti Kahurangi at the school and they wanted to do a project connected to caring for Papatuanuku (Mother Earth). She explained that they would have 12 classes doing two hours each on the project. Rachel quickly calculated that amount of manpower and realised that the impossible weeding project might be doable after all.
Experts were called in to have a look and give guidance. One arborist took a look, shook his head and said that there was no way the job could be done by kids. He said if someone asked him to do it, he would walk away. It was a daunting task, but they decided to go ahead. What did they have to lose? The KGT rangers and leaders led the project, and started by taking every class to the spot and explaining their vision for the space. Most students and teachers did not even know that the space was there!
KGT and Blue Light worked with each class, arming them with secateurs, loppers and hedge clippers and offering a free pizza lunch to the class that filled up the most wool fadges with jasmine and ivy. The challenge was on! The students loved it! They madly chopped away the vines and rolled them up before stuffing them into the fadges. They ended up with over 25 fadges packed full.
The trees were so tangled in weeds that the students just cut the vines around each tree and left them to die and rot away in the tree tops. They could be heard exclaiming, “I just saved that tree!”. We discovered a variety of different native species growing in the gully including tanekaha, rimu, kauri, kapuka, kōwhai, akeake, whauwhaupaku (five finger), tarata (lemonwood), manatu (ribbonwood), and kānuka. We spoke to local restoration hero Shawn Vennell and he said that when he went to the school in the 1980s he had learnt about native trees in that space. One of the teachers also remembered using the space for science classes 4o years ago. Now, it was once again a space full of learning and it was being restored!
The students learnt from KGT kairuruku reo Māori, Hinemoa, about the tikanga of cutting and transplanting harakeke. Then they transplanted the harakeke plants to down along the fence line, allowing for development of the space.
Students look over Herwi’s plans for the outdoor classroom
The school won a $1000 prize from Contact Energy for its efforts during the Greening Taupō Day celebrations in 2021. This was used to buy plants, tools and gloves. It was also used to print signs to go by the different tree species. These signs were designed by Matua Mason’s ‘Green Team’ in 2022 (see the signs below).
Matua Mason’s technology classes also made designs for the gully space and these were shown to landscape architect, Herwi Scheltus. Herwi was inspired and created some amazing plans for an outdoor classroom using the students’ ideas. They included a stage and amphitheater, paths, quiet spaces, adventure spaces and more. Shirley from Project Tongariro sprayed the weeds as they regrew. Stephan from Camex Civil came on board and offered to do the earthworks for free!
In 2023, Camex Civil completed the work on the paths and then, the Intermediate School won the Greening Taupō Day $1000 Contact prize again! It has been used to buy plants for the area and many of them have already been planted in a big working bee with over 100 students. A group of students also collected native plants from in the pine forest with NZ Forest Managers and we planted these out under the larger trees in the gully space. There’s an instant understory of ferns and seedlings there now.
Meeting with Tane to plan the mural for on the wall
Students have also created mural designs for on the large brick wall. Local artist Tane Lawless came in and met with them to give them advice. Hopefully, art classes will take on this project at some stage.
See an article about this project from the New Zealand Herald here
This project is made possible by generous volunteers such as:
Herwi Scheltus, Conservation Project Services Ltd
Tane Lawless, artist
Shirley Potter, Project Tongariro
Stephan Brink, Camex Civil
