A SUSTAINABLE
SCHOOL A GREAT PLACE TO
LEARN A sustainable school prepares young people for a lifetime of sustainable living, through its teaching, values and its day to day practices. It is easy to imagine a community that shows respect for other people, cultures or the natural world if they possess an underlying sense of care. Care instils responsibility, and as a school we accept the responsibility to develop this within our community. 2019 was a very successful year for our Sustainability project, with highlights including being acknowledged as national finalists in the Sustainable Business Network Awards and KNZB Sustainable Schools Awards. Rangi now has a national reputation as a school leading learning around sustainability and empowering students to take action. Students and staff mentor other schools and lead environmental and regeneration projects within the wider community. In 2019 Sophie Pye was selected as a member of the Environment Canterbury Youth Rōpū and many girls demonstrated leadership and enthusiasm in student driven projects. Carbon emission graphs show travel by road and air has the greatest impact on our school carbon footprint. Data shows a reduction in emissions.
In 2018, our cumulative annual emissions were 567.99 tCO2e. The 2019 business year saw this drop to 338.41 tCO2e.
I would like to acknowledge our team of passionate students driving sustainability initiatives. These young women are caring and active environmentalists with a strong sense of social responsibility. Our Sustainability teams thank the Rangi Ruru Board and management for their ongoing support.
Ngā mihi maioha,
Kate Rivers
DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY
An enthusiastic group of 150 people from various Christchurch schools planted 1100 native trees and plants at QE11 Park Adventure Trail
2019 • OUR YEAR IN
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Planting seedlings in our satellite nursery.
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Botanical artworks were produced and sold at a stall during the PTA House and Garden Tour. Money raised contributed to purchasing a greenhouse and gardening tools. The remaining greenhouse funding was generously donated by the PTA. Students are currently constructing the greenhouse and this is expected to be up in late 2020.
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Busy hands, folding planter bags and weed mats for reuse so they don’t end up in landfills.
Students made and sold bees wax wraps. Money raised will support the school to hire a beehive, produce honey onsite for use in the kitchen and provide an education programme around protecting bees.
Students separation of waste
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ECO-ACTION NURSERY
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Our students led initiatives in 2019 including working closely with Women’s Refuge and Battered Women’s Trust to provide fruit and vegetables for two local safe houses in Merivale. A vegetable garden was established, and 31 pumpkins were grown and used to make baby food and soup. Other vegetables grown onsite and donated included courgettes, runner beans, apples, figs and feijoas. Clothes and books were also collected and delivered for use in their emergency centre.
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A group of students were involved in helping our school designer produce posters, stickers and signage for bin stations around the school and education around separating waste was conveyed in assemblies.
ON A large area of blackberry was cleared in Hanmer Springs by Year 12 students, while on camp, thus allowing a clearing for planting and regeneration of native plants by the local council.
We established an Eco-Action Nursery growing native plants for the red zone, potted over 1000 native seedlings into bags and planted 800 natives at QE2 through our Eco Action project in collaboration with Christ’s College and Shirley Boys’ High. We will meet our collective goal to plant 5000 native trees in the red zone in the next three years.
THE GREATEST THREAT TO OUR PLANET IS THE BELIEF THAT SOMEONE ELSE WILL SAVE IT.
We’re very proud of our sustainability approach, we’ve worked with 11 other schools as part of the Eco-Action project to nurture native plants in our school nurseries and plant them in the red zones.
HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY Our 2019 Head of Sustainability, Rosetta Brown, presented our school initiatives at a business leaders breakfast and collaborated on a number of projects. Her peers nominated her for the Girl Boss Awards, Millennial on a Mission, and S E T TA O R the Young Legend Award. She was very highly commended and a finalist in all three national sustainability awards.
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Just over 400 students gave time to help with the Drayton Reserve Regeneration Project, river clean-ups, potting seedlings, Eco-Action planting days, distributing goods from the Rangi Reuse Depot or weed clearing projects.
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Weekly Green Tips and Sustainability Service opportunities were shared via our community newsletter, raising awareness of how individuals and families could make environmentally friendly choices and take action within their local environment.
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Rangi students helped the Christchurch City Council and Botanic Gardens staff sort plastic from flowers following the mosque shootings. Rangi provided volunteers each day for a week during the term break, to help separate compostable from non-biodegradable materials. Students also provided morning tea for the teams helping with tributes.
In the KNZB Young Journalists for the Environment - United Nations Sustainable Development Goals competition, Rangi’s Jax Halliday was awarded top prize in the senior journalism section and Claudia O’Shannessey won the senior photographic section of this national competition. Her image is representing NZ in the international award. Anna Casey was placed third in the Canterbury Secondary School Speaking 4 the Planet speech competition and Addison Drake won the senior Speaking 4 the Planet Design Award.
GREEN MARKET The Rangi Green Market raised the profile of buying preloved clothing and raised $352 to donate to Cool Earth and protect rainforest communities. In 2019 thousands of items collected through the Rangi Reuse Depot earned income through the Terracycle programme, that is donated directly to Cool Earth, helping us lower our carbon footprint. Over 10,000 items have been distributed to date, substantially reducing waste to landfill.
Selling goods at the Green Market
59 Hewitts Road, Merivale, Christchurch P: (03) 983 3700 rangiruru.school.nz