Thursday, 14 September 2017



New World is on Mission to save the bees!

New World set out to save the bees by putting out the Little Garden campaign promising, even more, happiness for New Zealanders of all ages and stages. 

There are 23 different seed pots in a stunning collection, many of which are designed to attract bees and butterflies which pollinate our gardens and crops. 








We were given our Bumble Bee Nesting Box made in Timaru by Creative Woofcraft. Each Leafcutter bee house comes with a supply of cocoons for our school children to look after. The bees will then return the favour by pollination the schools garden. Leafcutter bees do not sting and are prolific pollinators- proven to be nine times more effective than honey bees. 


So we would like to Thank New World for giving us a bumble bee nesting box and a supply of seed pots.

Watch our slideshow made on introducing Leafcutter Bees. 










Sunday, 10 September 2017

We're in the paper!

A press release written by Brian, Frank and Kolya got picked up by the Cook Strait News in July!

Monday, 17 July 2017

Tracking tunnel project update

Clyde Quay School students are working on a project to help catch pests and make Mount Victoria are safer place for birds to live.  Students have traps set up at school and around the suburb to catch rats, mice and hedgehogs.


Firstly, students made “tracking tunnels” that helped to identify which pests lived in the area by looking at their  footprints. We then got some expert advice from Wellington City Council and “Wild Eyes” about how these pests are affecting the ecosystem.




We found tracks belonging hedgehogs, mice and possibly slugs and snails too!

We signed up to the Student Volunteer Army, and got to work.  Platoon leader, and year 7 student Brian Ngan says “I think this is important because it’s saving the environment.   We are old enough to make a difference” and Liz Patra, principal, couldn’t agree more with Clyde Quay rangatahi taking direct action.


The project consists of 5 main groups: The storytellers, platoon leaders, planners, do-ers, and the habitat restorers.
  • Each of the platoon leaders are assigned to manage a group.
  • The storytellers manage the media outlets, take pictures, and write for newsletters.
  • The do-ers do stuff, such as set and check the traps,
  • Habitat restorers are planting and looking after plants around the school
  • The planners set up trap lines at school and across the suburb.


The habitat restorers did a survey of birds at the school and saw lots, although they were mostly pidgeons and sparrows!


We know that there is a similar group, Victory over Vermin that is catching pests in the town belt and we wanted to support their work by trapping in the suburb of Mount Victoria.This inspired a few of the students here, and narrows the suitable trap locations down a lot.  Teacher Sandy O’Brien says “I think that trapping is the lesser of two evils when you measure it against the possible extinction of our native treasures.”  As an Enviroschool, we think it’s really important to be looking after our planet so future generations can enjoy what we enjoy.


There are currently two traps set at school and 7 in households in the community.  We hope that by doing this, many more people in Mount Victoria will be inspired to start trapping pests.

What we'd love to do next is:
- Purchase our own DOC200 trap so we can kill hedgehogs (currently we are borrowing one but we'll need to return it.)
- Host a workshop run by a group of secondary school students from the group "Ratted out" where they teach parents and children how to build trap boxes so we can have trapping happening in more back yards in Mount Victoria
- Expand the project so that more students at school are involved (not just the year 7 and 8s)


Although led by the year 7 and 8 students, it has been a real community effort.  Zealandia has donated traps, Wild Eyes has given us inspiration and parents have given us advice.

To conclude, we as a community hope to make Mt. Victoria pest free and have more native wildlife. The council is hoping to make wellington the first pest free capital city in the world.







What does geometry have to do with conservation?




Here's what we had to do to make the tracking tunnels:


Putting our tracking tunnels out



Paul Stanley Ward talking to us about the impact of pests on New Zealand's native biodiversity


Paul brought along a whole lot of stuffed animals including this possum and stoat!  Do you know how to tell the difference between a stoat and a weasel?  One is weasely identifiable and the other is stotally different.



Measuring angles


Decorating!
Setting up the tunnels to go out

Tracks!



Sunday, 14 May 2017

Movin' March Awards 2017

Congratulations from Movin' March

Clyde Quay School was one of the top 3 schools in the Wellington region with the highest percentage of participation in Greater Wellington Regional Council's Movin' March walk or wheel passport competition.  With 70% participation Clyde Quay School had the second highest rate!  The prize is a personalised certificate and set of books for our school library.

One of our students also won a prize in the Movin’ March competition!  Isaac Goodwin won a brand new bike and helmet from Avanti Plus!

It's fantastic to see so many of our students being active on their journey to school.  Ka mau te wehi!
We even won a set of books for the library!




Thanks to Kate from GWRC for coming to school to present Isaac with the grand prize!

Thursday, 11 May 2017

Movin' March Awards

Congratulations from Movin' March

Clyde Quay School was one of the top 3 schools in the Wellington region with the highest percentage of participation in Greater Wellington Regional Council's Movin' March walk or wheel passport competition.  With 70% participation Clyde Quay School had the second highest rate!  The prize is a personalised certificate and set of books for our school library.

One of our students also won a prize in the Movin’March competition!  Isaac Goodwin won a brand new bike and helmet from Avanti Plus!

It's fantastic to see so many of our students being active on their journey to school.  Ka mau te wehi!
We even won a set of books for the library!

And a Certificate!