Coastal Taranaki School students with the rubbish they collected. Photo/ Supplied
Coastal Taranaki School students with the rubbish they collected. Photo/ Supplied
Seven schools across Taranaki signed up to an innovative programme helping educate young Kiwis on how to help keep oceans rubbish free.
The Nestle for Healthier Kids Sea Cleaners programme gives schools across the country tools and resources to help kids understand the impact of litter.
Coastal Taranaki School is one of seven from Taranaki that have signed up to the programme.
It includes lesson content developed by School Kit that branches multiple streams of the school curriculum including science, social science and the arts.
The programme provides a variety of resources to help students categorise and analyse rubbish correctly, as well as information and kits to do clean-ups and show students the real difference their actions can have on the natural environment.
The students enjoyed filling in the poster. Photo/ Supplied
The free kits are made from 100 per cent reusable and recyclable materials, including paper collection bags, cotton gloves and guides to help students correctly sort the rubbish.
Coastal Taranaki teacher Karla Jorgensen says conservation and kaitiakitanga are at the forefront of environmental learning at the school.
"The Year 5/6 classes have been [studying] keeping Aotearoa beautiful and exploring actions to enact and encourage guardianship and caring of our precious land."
She says the programme was eagerly received by students.
"It provided a valuable process of learning to help students identify and understand environmental issues locally, nationally and globally. The students were excited to partake in the programme and contribute, individually and collectively, towards a relevant solution."
She says the programme complements in-classroom lesson content.
"It helps students understand the challenges and direct actions they can take to help keep oceans rubbish free, now and into the future."
As part of the programme, 28 pupils went to William-Corbett Reserve in Okato for their clean-up day.
"The students found the most prominent type of rubbish was non-recyclable plastics, followed by glass, and then recycled plastics."
One of the posters showing the effects of littering. Photo/ Supplied
She says the students enjoyed filling in a big poster showing the rubbish they collected.
"They also enjoyed making a topographic map showing all the waterways that lead into the ocean in our area."
Karla says the students have put up posters around the school, showing the impacts of littering.
"The posters are of different sea animals and the children have glued rubbish to their stomachs to show that the animals eat the rubbish and how bad littering is for our environment."
Year 5 pupil Tayla Sole, 10, says the clean-up was "very fun".
"I like to get my hands dirty and I really liked cleaning up the environment."
Elize Brewer, 11, says they picked up eight bags worth of rubbish.
"It's very important to keep our environment clean. We don't want the rubbish to break down and the chemicals to poison our soil. We also don't want rubbish ending up in our oceans as it can poison the animals."
Sea Cleaners chief executive Hayden Smith says by motivating the next generation into conservation action, we are engaging and educating young people on an important issue.
"This allows us to collectively work to preserve New Zealand's waterways for the benefit of the marine life and enjoyment of all users – for generations to come.
"After seeing the positive impact of the programme last year, we are proud to continue our partnership with Nestle to educate and mobilise even more students and help rid our oceans of waste."
Taranaki schools participating the programme are Coastal Taranaki, Ngaere, Inglewood Primary, Marfell Community, St Joseph's Catholic School in New Plymouth, Welbourn, and Waitara East School.
