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At Parklands School students are streamed into two ability classes to better meet learning needs. The top class is involved in many extra activities including Otago Problem Challenge, Nelsomathix and some enrol in the UNSW mathematics. Units of work are high interest. Some of the photos show students from the top stream surveying younger students using measuring and questioning skills. Students used our exceptional facilities at MOTEC to present their data using excel. “The unit was fun. I learnt about all sorts of graphs rather than just pie and bar graphs.” Amanda Spittal “ We measured the capacity of Room 9’s fists, we put their fists in a jug and recorded their results. The displaced water made the water level rise.” Kasper Griffith |
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The Parklands School Organic Garden was started in 2008 by staff member Gwen Dodgshun, who enlisted the help of two very skilful and dedicated volunteers Lorraine Lister and Zane Ostergaard to train up a group of students to grow organic produce within the school. Our super groundsman Tony Kyle prepared a garden plot and we used our own school fertilizer made from green waste and food scraps.The Garden Club is made up of approximately two students from each class and we meet up every Wednesday for half an hour to tend our garden. We are growing: potatoes, tomatoes, zucchinis, beans, herbs and many types of greens. At the end of 2008 we won a local schools' gardening competition and we were given a greenhouse as our prize from Easysheds. This year we will be growing lots of delicious goodies in the greenhouse including yummy strawberries! By Garden Club member Laura Bowdler and staff member Jessie Francis
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GARDENING CLUB NEWS , March 2010 We have established a small but productive vegetable garden and meet weekly for our gardening session. This summer we grew a variety of vegetables including runner beans, dwarf beans, zucchini, sweet corn, carrots, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. We also have strawberries and some herbs. We have a good crop of self-sown potatoes in the compost heap that are nearly ready for harvesting. |
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Winter is a challenging time for the garden because we lose a lot of sun and get very heavy frosts. This year we’ve planted red Brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, leeks, coloured silverbeet and celery. In April we’ll sow broad beans.Our garden is totally organic, so we keep it as healthy as possible to try and avoid damage by pests. If any plants do get attacked we use Neem oil as a safe and effective pesticide. We have covered the winter Brussels sprouts and broccoli with insect netting to keep the cabbage white butterflies out. We also made a scarecrow last year. |
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Gardening Club has a dedicated team of children who enjoy our weekly sessions and have fun as well. They learn a lot and enjoy picking and eating the fresh vegetables that we produce. When the sweet corn ripened a few weeks ago we took it straight over to our Technology Centre and cooked it freshly picked from the garden. It was delicious! |
A special thanks to our friend and neighbour, Lorraine, who helps us. Above: some of the Gardening Club members with Lorraine – Campbell, Zac, Amber, Elizabeth, Laura, Emma and Quin. |
