Green Gold for Little Earth Montessori

On the 9th of September, 2009, we celebrated the opening of Little Earth Montessori preschool.  Today, exactly 2 years later, Little Earth achieved the Enviroschools Green Gold Award.  We are very proud of this achievement.  It recognises our efforts to develop Little Earth into a truly sustainable community. 

Enviroschools is run by the Enviroschools Foundation,  a charitable national trust that provides leadership, support, and opportunities that empower children and young people to work in intergenerational ways to create healthy, peaceful and resilient communities.  The awards scheme is designed to encourage schools to become actively involved in environmental education and to undertake environmental initiatives that will make a real difference in the community.  There are three levels of awards, bronze, silver and the prestigious green gold.

Last year Little Earth received the silver award.  Our journey didn’t stop there.  We continued to strengthen our connection with nature and the environment to create an embedded culture of sustainability and to encourage our children to enact as part of their daily thinking and actions.  Today, Little Earth has a whole school approach based on the five Enviroschools guiding principles.

- Respect for the diversity of people and cultures
Integral to to achieving a sustainable environment in New Zealand - one that is fair, peaceful and co-operative and makes the most of our rich cultural traditions.

- Learning for sustainability
Children are engaged in the physical, social, cultural and political aspects of our local and global environment.

- Sustainable communities
Children are part of a sustainable community that acts in ways that nurture people and nature, now and in the future.

- Empowering students
Children are empowered to participate in a genuine way from their own unique and creative perspective.

- Maori perspectives
Maori perspectives and knowledge of the environment enrich the learning process and offer insights unique to the culture, honouring the status of indigenous people in this land.

The four Enviroschools key areas of school life that have an effect on sustainability and the children’s learning are incorporated at Little Earth.

- place, including physical surroundings
- practices, including operational sustainable paractices
- programmes, including a living curriculum
- people and participation, including organisational management.

Achieving the Green Gold award is a huge accomplishment for our preschool.  It involves a lot of hard work, commitment, time, resources and, most importantly, support from our community.  Our children, our parents and whanau, our teachers, and our management have all worked together and created a community based on a culture of respect for  the environment, all living creatures and for each other as well as for themselves.

A team of Enviroschools delegates, teachers, management and parents spend the day to reflect on the journey Little Earth has undertaken.  We created a koru to visual represent our journey from humble beginnings at our Tawa Montessori Preschool in 2005 until the Green Gold today, finishing with small koru rippling out as our journey continues.  The koru represents the fern frond as it opens, bringing new life to the world. The koru also represents peace and tranquility along with new beginnings.

LITTLE EARTH - GREEN GOLD

We have a living evolving school vision which involves strengthening our connection with nature.  The outdoors serves as an extension of the classroom.  The Enviroschools Guiding Principles are woven into all aspects of our school life.  Caring for our environment is a fundamental value woven throughout our programme, influencing all our decisions and actions.  Our children love and appreciate nature, developing  an understanding they have shared responsibilities for the environment and humanity.  Supported by adults, they make decisions and take action in their community.  At Little Earth sustainability is embedded in our daily thinking and actions. There are many examples of changes that show we are making a difference.  The vibrant and healthy environment at Little Earth supports our community towards sustainability.  “The community come to us and we come to the community.”  Maori perspectives enrich our journey.  We honour the diversity of people within the community, combining intergenerational wisdom with each other’s unique perspectives.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, our global network of readers, for all the support, enthusiasm and inspiration we have received over the years.  Sharing your ideas and experiences, and giving feedback through blog comments, emails, direct messages, tweets, Facebook and Skype are invaluable.  You are all part of the journey.   

The Green Gold award is a long term commitment of Little Earth to sustainability.  It is not the end, the  journey continues.

- Anja