Green Team on their way

What do Hamilton’s Rhode Street School and the annual Fieldays event have in common? Innovation.

Rhode Street School  is known for its diverse learning initiatives and principal Shane Ngatai beamed from ear to ear as he showed off the student driven eco-island that’s evolving on the school’s rugby field.

Although right now it’s just a big mound of dirt and three brightly painted shipping containers, Ngatai has big plans to continue growing the island.

He said the island will take up the entire field, boasting a pest-proof fence to protect the habitat including weta, skink, and tuatara, both a swing and draw bridge access, and be lush with more than 1000 trees, all before the official opening in October.

“They have literally built an island, on a rugby field, in a city school, and it’s the first in the world.”

The idea came about three years ago when a group of environmentally minded students known as the Green Team were on their way back from a trip to Maungatautari, and a student asked why they couldn’t have an environment like that in their own back yard.

“I just turned around and said, well why not? And that was the start of the whole project,” said Ngatai.

This year the Green Team will return to Fieldays to further develop relationships started last year.

The National Agricultural Fieldays is the largest agricultural event in the Southern Hemisphere, with more than 1000 exhibitors. It’s no wonder Ngatai is calculating his plan of attack.

Ngatai said the island would not have been possible without the generosity of the numerous businesses already involved, including their great relationship with DOC, and can’t wait to see what relationships can be made with companies at Fieldays this year.

“To date the project has cost around $100,000 but we’re lucky if we have spent $10,000,” he said. “It’s all about the connections with these companies.”

Contracts and sponsorship executive Linda Meerkerk said Rhode Street isn’t the only school that is interested in networking with Fieldays exhibitors. Kaipaki Primary and Hamilton North School already have a strong partnership with Fieldays, which they have been able to use to their advantage.

“Both schools help Fieldays and receive a donation from us in return. Kaipaki Primary runs our Courier Hut and Courier Service at the Fieldays event and also provides a shuttle service up the Gate 2 Hill for visitors. Hamilton North School place our programmes (15,000) into programme bags prior to the event then have the role of programme sellers at the event,” she said.

“We have a pool of reliable helpers to call on every year and the school has an annual fundraising event that does not require monetary input from parents. Parents can help by donating their time.”

Hamilton North has 113 students who have intellectual and/or physical disabilities and principal Tony Kane said this not only gets students involved in volunteering but is also the school’s biggest fundraiser of the year.

“We worked out that we would need about 25 volunteers a day. We asked the parents for help. They said ‘we can’t but what we will do is keep our students at home which will free up other staff’. It’s a joint staff, parent effort,” Kane said.

“First year we actually raised funds for a new van. We have bought sound systems, iPads and put it into the environment. We have always put it towards something that would benefit our students and that’s the whole aim.”

Ngatai said it’s this type of interactive learning, with an environmental focus, that will be achieved with Rhode Street’s eco-island.

Three large shipping containers-turned-classrooms will house interactive whiteboards and iPads, and the next step of the project is the surrounding pond and solar panel roofing.

He’s confident that he’ll get all he needs at this year’s Fieldays to make that happen.

“They [the Green Team] went last year to Fieldays and set up the relationships for it, meeting some of the directors for these companies, so they’ve already sown the seeds so when they go back this year they’ll meet those same people

and say ‘we’ve finished, here’s some photos, can you help now?’

“We’re also going to hit up Gallaghers. They don’t know it yet,” he laughed.

“It will be a great opportunity for them to put their product around the island, bring their clients from overseas to have a look at it in action.”

Look out, 2014 Fieldays exhibitors.