Okoia School
School Gardening Partnership 2026
May Update
Since getting started back in May, the students of Okoia school have established a second vegetable bed. They’ve been growing quite nicely – so much so the white butterflies think they’re great as well. They’ll be applying some frost cloth as a temporary protective measure and making plans to improve their defences.
Getting Started – March
“The children have two garden beds in the lower paddock area which have been cleared by the students and have kind of been used in the past for veggies as part of learning. The main focus moving forward for the gardens is to get the tamariki involved in sustainable gardening alongside bringing a paddock to plate experience. Alongside this, this term they are all learning about “invaders” both the good and bad bugs in the garden.”
Becks Ackroyd – Okoia School Partnership Coordinator
Since registering to join the partnership, and the first visit with Brydie (SGC Partnership Coordinator), the garden beds had been moved from the far end of the paddock to closer to the school building. Overlooked by a stunning mural, this has allowed much better access to irrigation and maintenance of the gardens moving forward.
Brydie delivered bags of Tui Vegetable Mix and various vegetable seedlings to fill one of the garden beds and start the gardening journey.
School Vege Challenge 2022
Harvest Time & Judging
Mid Challenge Update
We arrive at Okoia school and headed out to the vegetable gardens. We are soon joined by Kim and her class of students. They have brown fingertips. We have arrived when they were doing finger painting. Fun fact that we learnt was that Koalas have individual fingerprints like humans do.
The garden is coming along, they have got carrots growing as well as brassicas and onions. We meet Trent who works part time as a teacher aid and part time as the school caretaker.
There is a whole class full of kids that came out for the photo, that’s lots of kids learning about gardening which is what the vege challenge is all about.
Where does our food come from, how we can grow it ourselves, what are the factors to consider – soil, light, water, pests, timing and more.
The future is bright and these kids are learning how to garden.
Their carrots look good.
I’m looking forward to seeing the garden again in a couple of months.
Getting Going
At Okoia School we have some vege patches and a worm farm. We are looking forward to the children participating in the School Vege Challenge, not only to encourage them to learn about growing nutritious food, but to also to add an incentive and support them with learning as much as they can. Our students are already brimming with great questions like, “How can we tell if it’s a slug or a caterpillar eating the plants?”
