Past Events
Northern Regional Council Environmental Awards
DIS Nursery in the Spotlight
Mr Lucich, Mr Hewetson and Ms Papworth attended the inaugural Northland Regional Council Environmental Awards in Whangarei.
DIS were finalists in the “Environmental action in water quality improvement category” There were 8 different categories.
Dargaville Intermediate School Nursery were awarded a “Highly Commended” award for our contribution over the last 9 years, growing and planting riparian plants around waterways and land in the Kaipara.
"The Enviroschools kaupapa is about creating a healthy, peaceful, sustainable world through learning and taking action together."
Dargaville Intermediate Becomes Green-Gold Enviroschool
Dargaville Intermediate School is proud to have obtained the prestigious ‘Green-Gold’ status through the national Enviroschools programme; a school-wide approach to sustainability.
Enviroschools’ recognition comes in three bands, from the most-often awarded Bronze, through to Silver and the rarest Green-Gold.
More than 250 current and former students, staff and members of the public had attended the Green-Gold celebration and Cr Smart says the regional council greatly valued the work taken on by schools like Dargaville Intermediate.
“It’s only through communities working together that we will achieve environmental successes.”
Susan Karels, the council’s Enviroschools Regional Co-ordinator, says among the school’s key strengths are its strong school-wide emphasis on environmental sustainability, its impressive native plant nursery and student-led waste management/recycling system.
Mrs Karels says while the new Green-Gold status belongs to the entire school community, Principal Brendon Lucich, Deputy Principal Diane Papworth (Enviroschools lead teacher) and Dennis Hewetson (school caretaker) all deserved special mention for their expertise and efforts over many years.
To mark the occasion, attendees at the Green-Gold celebration all received a cupcake decorated as a riparian plant.
Mrs Karels says the themed cupcakes represented the tens of thousands of native plants the school had raised at its nursery over the years and planted alongside local waterways to help protect and enhance the Kaipara Harbour.