Wairakei Primary School Gully Restoration

Kids Greening Taupō (KGT) worked with Wairakei Primary School in 2021 to turn their school gully from an overgrown, unusable area into an amazing outdoor learning space. This was a project led by a group of 15 student rangers and leaders.

We started by walking through the gully and visualising what we would love it to look like. The students had dreams of a space where a class could sit to do their learning outside. They wanted paths that were easy to walk around and native trees to attract native birds. Unfortunately, the gully was overgrown by introduced weeds. Blackberry, Himalayan honeysuckle, and aluminium weed had spread to cover large areas of bank and smother the native plants. A vision was drawn up and then steps to reach this vision were decided on. The students applied to the Contact Energy Take Action Fund through Kids Greening Taupō to get money to buy gloves, equipment and get signage made.

Through Kids Greening Taupō the leaders and rangers took part in preparations for a community restoration planting on Wairakei Drive and they spoke to local experts and volunteers like Shawn Vennell. He was once a student at Wairakei Primary School and is now leading the huge restoration effort to bring back native forest to Wairakei Drive. They even got to visit the Wairakei Sanctuary and the kiwi incubation facility. Through these experiences they got a better understanding of Aotearoa’s unique biodiversity and the need to restore it. This helped them to develop their vision plan further.

Together we completed biodiversity surveys looking at the birds, invertebrates, plants and predators in the gully. The students made tracking tunnels and set them in the gully. They were surprised to find an assortment of tracks in them, including rats, mice, stoats and hedgehogs prints. They showed these to one of the junior classes and talked to them about the effect these animals have on the native biodiversity. The students invited Robyn from Predator Free Taupō in to help them set up a trapline. They made up a roster to check the traps daily and they recorded data on the predators caught using the TrapNZ app.

Using the iNaturalist app and the knowledge of KGT Coordinators, plants in the gully were identified. Students worked together with KGT to cut and paste all of the Himalayan Honeysuckle, clearing a big area. It was hard work, but very rewarding. They brought the community in for a working bee to clear the other invasive weeds. Paths were cleared, blackberry removed and huge wool fadges were filled with aluminium weed. The rotten wood found under the blanket of aluminium weed was piled up to make a bug hotel.

The leaders then taught younger students how to plant correctly and led sessions to plant a range of native plants. These plants were then staked so they could easily be seen, and then fenced off so that students wouldn’t accidentally stand on them. The bank, once covered in blackberry, was planted in harakeke and ti kouka by the kids. They were like mountain goats on the very steep terrain!

The rangers and leaders were keen to get the rest of the students using the gully again, so they led invertebrate hunts with classes and took them on tours of the gully, teaching them about the plants and showing them the work that they had done.

The students came up with an idea of using ’gully passes’ as a reward system in the school. They designed the passes using an online design programme and went to school management to get the idea approved.

The leaders then made a slideshow presentation that they presented and spoke to at a whole school assembly to show their journey in the gully, and to promote the new gully pass system.

Finally, the students chose a plant each to research and photograph using a quality digital camera. They worked together to create a sign template on an online design programme and then each designed their own sign with interesting facts about the traditional uses of the plant and the importance of the plant to native birds/invertebrates etc. These signs were printed onto metal backing by our awesome supporters, Quality Print, and then installed in the gully by the student leaders. One of them even designed a ‘Bug Hotel- Whare Ngāngara’ sign for next to the rotting logs that we had piled up as an invertebrate habitat.

We all know how good it is for our physical and mental wellbeing to be out connecting to nature, doing physical mahi and helping our environment. It has been great to see the smiles on the children’s faces as they explore the gully during lunchtimes. It has also been awesome to see students learning in the gully in class time too. Mapping has been done for maths, and bird feeders designed for technology.

In 2022 this project was continued with a planting at the far end of the gully funded by First Credit Union and native plants transplanted from in pine forests and school gardens. The student leaders made up a scavenger hunt/quiz activity that classes can use in the gully. They wrote questions that make other students hunt through the gully to find the signs, then read them to find the answers. What a fun way to learn about our special native plants! Awesome work Wairakei Primary School!

Here are some of the sign designs: 

This signage project was funded by the Contact Energy Take Action Fund, with plants funded by First Credit Union. Thank you!