Our mission: Supporting young people and educators to connect with people and the environment in our place
We are a collaborative group of educators working in Wānaka and the wider Upper Clutha area, including Hāwea, Tarras and Makarora.
After coming together in 2022 to host a local connection day for the NZAEE conference, we have continued to work together to offer teacher professional learning and facilitate learning with young people from early childhood through to secondary.
Experiencing Our Place: Professional Learning
We offer free after school sessions for educators, with multiple sessions each term at different locations and on different days, to ensure that something will work for everyone!
Term One 2024 Sessions are now open for registrations: REGISTER HERE
We are starting this year with a focus on water, and what happens in and around our catchment.
On 12th February we will explore the Wānaka lakeshore with the Lake Wānaka Grebes team and WAI Wānaka touching on different environmental pressures and what thrives and survives in this place. This session will be repeated on March 14th for those who can't make the Monday session.
In week four, Grow Wānaka are opening their fabulous community garden up again - this will be the peak of harvest season, a session not to miss (Tuesday 20th Feb)!
And special guests to our region - Otago University Marine Sciences Centre will be bringing their Aquavan to Wānaka. They are planning to run this PLD session on Wed 3rd April going through the programme and resources and then bring the Aquavan to run their interactive primary and yr 9-11 secondary programme in term 2.
Our Group: Organisations Involved
We work on collaborative projects, such as our professional learning sessions, but also deliver our own programmes for local ECE centres and schools.
Click on the names of the organisations to visit each website and find out more.
Highlights from 2023
We started 2023 with visits to some of our organisations, including the Grow Wānaka community gardens and the Te Kākano nursery. We also explored the learning opportunities at Penrith wetlands, including some time watering and caring for native plants and reflecting on how to connect with te ao Maori and the history of the area.
Plastic Free July was the perfect opportunity to visit Wastebusters and learn about tips for reducing waste from Enviroschools and local research on microplastics from WAI Wānaka.
In October we connected with Wānaka Backyard Trapping at Mount Iron to discuss trapping, lizards and the public submission process for Mt Iron.
In November we headed to the Food Forest at the Hāwea Domain for a session about food resilience, community gardens, propagation opportunities and biodynamic gardens.
We finished the year with a celebration event in November at the Wānaka Watersports Facility. This was a chance to reflect on the year, provide feedback about what teachers enjoyed and what they'd like to see from Natur-ED in 2024.
