Labour of love blooms in Taupō for flood-affected schools

Green-fingered pupils at Waipāhīhī School get help from Heidi Pritchard of Kids Greening Taupō

From small acorns, mighty oak trees grow. And from native seedlings, mighty native trees grow. Thanks to a caring collaboration between central North Island schools, so too does compassion, support and aroha.

Green-fingered students and staff at Waipāhīhī School in Taupō are currently tending hundreds of seedlings that will grow into native trees to be presented to flood-ravaged schools in the Hawke’s Bay region.

After hearing about all the school gardens and native planting that had been destroyed by Cyclone Gabrielle this February, staff and students at Waipāhīhī School decided to roll up their sleeves.

“One of our big focuses is hauroa – looking after me, looking after you,” says deputy principal Amanda Wilson.

“And we always work strongly on creating learning opportunities for children that are really purposeful.”

Through the Kids Greening Taupō group, a school staff member was involved in creating care packages for children who were unable to attend school due to flooding.

Ruud Kleinpaste lends his expertise to Waipāhīhī School.

This led to the seedling project developing, alongside Wainui Beach School in Gisborne, a school with a very similar nature-driven philosophy. It utilises its nearby wetland for nature education and shares a love of the natural environment.

At the Taupō school, every child is welcomed by planting their own native plant, it runs a popular ‘Bush School’, and has an active gardening team.

Both schools set about putting their green fingers to good use on a project to help schools whose natural environments had been damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle.

An idea comes to life

Heading up the project with Amanda was her fellow Waipāhīhī School deputy principal Jen Maloney. The plant-passionate pair had already engaged the school in conservation projects and happened to have ‘The Bug Man’ Ruud Kleinpaste at school when they heard of the damage.

Waipāhīhī schoolchildren out in the field with ‘The Bug Man’ Ruud Kleinpaste.

“It seemed fitting that Ruud was in school with us, so he helped pivot our focus towards planting and propagating seedlings that would grow well in the Hawke’s Bay region. We saw an opportunity to help rebuild the gardens of schools in need of a helping hand.

“The idea of utilising Ruud’s knowledge of plants to engage students in this seedling project to help another school, learn so much ourselves, and strengthen our connections to the whenua – it all felt very timely.”

Ruud took groups of students to Taupō Botanical Gardens, just down the road from the school, to identify native plants that would be well-suited to the east coast climate. He helped the school source, propagate and plant the seedlings, with the whole school getting involved in the project.

“We now have a very full nursery to tend to,” says Jen. “The children are really enjoying nurturing the seedlings – they’re tending to them every day and even talking to them!

“The plants should take around six months to mature to the stage where they’ll be ready to be transferred to schools whose gardens were impacted by the cyclone.”

Labour of love

Taking seed: young plants being tended by students.

A school visit by pupils and staff to hand over their plant labours of love in person is on the cards when timings suit.

“We look forward to taking the plants over ourselves, presenting them to one of the affected schools, and maybe helping to plant them. I think that will be quite special,” Jen says.

Through this nature-focused exchange, the school is proud to be growing compassionate, caring kids who are nurtured and thrive as well as their well-nourished plants.