Marton's James Cook School celebrates Arbor Day by planting native trees

Beaver Tree Service Manawatū owner Bryce Robb was on hand to teach the students about the importance of trees. Photo / Ethan Griffiths

It was a crash course in the basics of landscaping for students of Marton's James Cook School on Friday, as the school celebrated Arbor Day by planting a group of trees along the school boundary.

All of the school's 212 pupils took part in the activity, with Beaver Tree Service Manawatū donating nine native trees in an effort to teach the students the importance of planting and maintaining trees.

"Beaver gave me a call earlier this term and said they wanted to choose our school to donate some natives to. We were on board," school principal Timu Niwa said.

Each of the school's nine classes chose their own native tree, learning about each plant and the basics of looking after it.

"The kids are loving it, it's really cool. Some of them haven't even dug a hole before so it's great to give them that experience."

Beaver Tree Service owner Bryce Robb said the donation wasn't just about giving back to the community, but also sharing the importance of sustainability.

The school was given nine native trees to plant - one for each class. Photo / Ethan Griffiths

"Every Arbor Day we provide trees to a local school and give the kids a bit of knowledge about the importance of trees," Robb said.

"We're always taking out trees. Fifty per cent of our work is taking out those that are too big or dying. We want to promote the fact that it's important to carry on planting trees."

Niwa said the project would be much more than just a day's activity for the students, with ongoing lessons around keeping trees healthy in the pipeline.

"We're going to get some mulch in and ensure we tend to them, so it will be the responsibility of each class to keep it up to scratch."

Arbor Day was first celebrated in New Zealand in 1890. Since then, it's been observed almost every year since, held on June 5 alongside World Environment Day.