Rabobank staff work hard at Te Ranga School

Students from Te Ranga School pull weeds with regional manager Lisa Stanbra (left) and analyst Gabby Matthews from Rabobank's Hamilton and Whakatane offices respectively.

Last Friday wasn’t a normal workday for about 30 Rabobank staff.

Instead, it was a day of hard manual labour.

Staff from the Te Puke, Matamata, Whakatāne and Rotorua branches as well as Hamilton and Wellington offices, headed to Te Ranga School to put their backs to the grindstone.

Last year the school was the overall winner of Rabobank’s national Good Deeds competition. The prize was $5000, plus a day of labour provided by Rabobank staff.

Its competition entry highlighted the school’s bush classroom, a 2ha block of native forest on the nearby Marks Farm that is subject to a QEII covenant.

As well as creating a space where students learn about New Zealand’s native flora and fauna, a track is being built around the area that includes a boardwalk and steps and there is a viewing platform looking out towards Ōtānewainuku and the Waiare Stream.

Teacher Sarah Peake, who put the competition entry together, had created a to-do list for the day. She said more people turned up than she was expecting.

“This meant that we were able to tick all of the jobs on our list off. We are so pleased with the progress that was made.”

In the morning, tracks were cut through a newly planted area to the viewing platform that was built by a team from Toi Ohomai.

School students helped with grass and weed clearing, especially around the young trees.

Later in the day, an old track was restored and steps built.

“We were also able to install cupboards for storing all of our planting and maintenance gear and educational resources,” said Sarah.

“Now I am really looking forward to using our prizemoney to buy things like microscopes, bug traps, magnifying glasses, trail cams, and water testing kits to fill up our cupboards.”

While everyone was tired by the end of the day, there was also a lot of pride in what had been achieved.

“The Rabobank volunteers went above and beyond their duties, and we are truly grateful for their contribution.

“We are so looking forward to using our new tracks and getting into some conservation education in our bush classroom.”

Rabobank’s Waikato-Bay of Plenty area manager Marc Brakenrig said it was “cool” that the Good Deeds winning entry was in his region.

“At Rabobank, we do community events throughout the year as part of the corporate model, so every year we usually do something, but this year is even bigger and better because it comes as part of the competition.”

He said it was good for staff to get out of the office get their hands dirty, “and give back, ultimately, to the communities that we live and work in”.

“It’s really rewarding and the team and I have been pretty excited about coming out and doing it.”

He described Te Ranga School as a hub of the community — one of the reasons it won the prize.

“So it’s not just the children that will use the space — it’s the rest of the community as well.”

The day was important for staff, too.

“Having the whole team here and getting the whole team in one place is pretty important. We run the four branches as one, but it’s a chance to get the whole team together because we do work remotely in those different branches. And everybody’s happy to chip in.”

Robbie Fisher pulling weeds as Rabobank staff work to build a pathway in the background.

He also welcomed the input from students.

“It’s cool seeing the kids running around as well. When you think of this as a resource for the school and again think about Rabobank’s corporate values, using this for educating about sustainability and biodiversity and being custodians of the land, that’s ultimately what we are all about — so it fits nicely with Rabobank’s philosophy.”

The outdoor classroom is part of the bush corridor between Otanewainuku and Kaharoa forests, where there are major kiwi and kokako projects. The hope is the corridor will become a “highway” for the endangered birds to move between the two forests.

At the time of the announcement of the win, Rabobank CEO Todd Charteris said the school’s bush classroom project stood out as the top entry for several reasons.

“The school ... is doing a great job of developing this natural resource while at the same time using it to teach their students about a whole range of topics including sustainable practices, biodiversity and sound ecological management,” he says.

“We really liked that the kids have taken ownership of various mini-projects within the tract, like the trapping.

“We were also really impressed to hear the area is being used by the wider rural community, with a local catchment group recently hosting an event in the tract which focused on how to effectively trap and plant out bush areas.

“Finally, we felt the bush classroom project could be significantly advanced by the competition prizemoney and labour support.”