Fortnightly working bees at Te Hōnonga a Iwi Restoring Rosedale Park allow a group of students from Wilson School to give back to the community, develop new skills and learn about the environment and climate change.
The four students and two teachers began visiting the restoration site in term two of the school year.
Wilson School Team Leader Kathryn Huish says the school is always looking for ways to engage students in the community.
The Rosedale Park project is ideal because the site is accessible for the students, and the work gives them self-worth and a sense of purpose.
“Students living with disabilities often have a lot done for them in their home life and it’s great to have them in an environment where they can achieve and give back,” says Kathryn.
Wilson School is a specialist school on Auckland’s North Shore with a long history of supporting students with special educational needs. Six classes are located at its site alongside The Wilson Trust and Waitemata District Health Board’s Wilson Centre. The school also has 11 satellite classes based in schools around the North Shore.
Each class has around seven or eight students, enabling teachers to meet individual learning needs and goals. The school aspires to provide meaningful and engaging learning experiences centred around each student, with a goal of ‘equipping young people for life’.
Te Hōnonga a Iwi project co-ordinator Nicky Shave says the Wilson School students are highly motivated and have unique insights into the tasks they undertake at the project.
“They offer opportunities to do things in different ways, which contributes to our capacity to be innovative.”
The partnership also gives the restoration team insights into managing volunteers with mixed abilities so that all community members can contribute genuine value to the project.
“Learning how to ensure meaningful inclusion is crucial for mitigating climate change. We need to generate social equity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Nicky says.
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