Springfield School – Tawera Reserve.
Greendot.
Kids Discovery Plantout Day.
Project partner: Te Ara Kākāriki.
For three years, the EMF backed Greendot Program—delivered by Te Ara Kākāriki—has given Springfield School students hands on restoration experience. Each season they plant ~400 indigenous seedlings across the school grounds and a nearby reserve, guided by a CPWL funded restoration plan. Research shows that children who spend time outdoors enjoy better academic outcomes and wellbeing, and this programme lets them learn about nature and biodiversity through planting, bird surveys, cultural uses of native plants and invertebrate based water health monitoring. Beyond the initial planting, students take part in ongoing site monitoring and management—discovering that restoration is about much more than just trees.
Impact.
- Immersive stewardship: Students gain practical restoration skills and environmental literacy beyond the classroom.
- Habitat contribution: Adds c. 400 seedlings annually to the local biodiversity corridor.
- Ecosystem discovery: Bird counts, cultural flag making and invertebrate hunts reveal the living world beneath their feet.
- Ongoing engagement: Site monitoring and maintenance teach responsibility for long term ecosystem health.
- Kaitiakitanga in action: Fosters a lasting sense of guardianship and community support for landscape scale restoration.
