Porirua Harbour Trust

Resources for Teachers

Nau mai, haere mai – Welcome Teachers!

This page provides links to educational resources about Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour, as well as other supporting documents and information for teachers.   We welcome feedback from teachers and other members of the community (let us know if you have any useful links, documents or ideas to add to this page).  This is particularly important now that the Trust no longer has a coordinator devoted to school education matters.

Living Waters Education Resource

The original Porirua Harbour and Catchment Community Trust  produced an educational resource for teachers in the harbour catchment area. The resource was produced to help teachers utilise the Living Waters documentary series (produced in 2012), and to encourage teachers and students to take action in their community to help improve the health of the harbour and its catchment streams.  Access is available through the Living Waters page of this site. 

The resource is aimed at Levels 3 to 5 of the NZ curriculum, covering the Science and Social Science strands (but there are many possible links to other curriculum areas). It is presented in three themes, each with a specific curriculum focus and with links to field trips and student action projects.

 Click on each of the separate sections or the full teaching resource:

Porirua Harbour and Catchment Map

This map provides teachers with the option to have a simple black and white image of the catchment area, which can be easily printed and used for displays or worksheets. It also has layers which can be turned on or off, providing further information about features such as land use, parks, schools, streams, native forest etc. In this format, it is also an excellent digital resource, for students to explore the catchment area during their investigations and action projects.

Open the MAP here

You will need Adobe Reader to open the PDF and to access the ‘layers’ function. Follow the instructions below:

Click on the layers icon, in the top left corner of the screen (see image below):

Map layers instructions copy

Then select or deselect each layer (by clicking in the box to the left of each feature), to display only those features you would like to see.

 

Useful Links for Teachers

 Porirua City  Council 

Harbour and Catchment management programme, including links to documents (such as the strategy and action plan), latest news and other useful resources and information about the harbour.

 Greater  Wellington  Regional  Council

Take Action for Water resource – focusing on streams in the catchment. The resource includes worksheets, stream testing information, action planning advice and much more.

Mountains to Sea Wellington

Healthy Harbours Porirua and Whitebait Connection. Excellent programmes available for schools, including teaching sessions and field trips (snorkeling in harbour and stream testing). For more information contact Zoe Studd: zoe.studd@mtsw.org.nz

 GOPI

Guardians of Pauatahanui Inlet – Community group, with links to research, community events and educational resources for the Inlet area.

 Pauatahanui  Wildlife  Reserve

Managed by DOC, in collaboration with Forest and Bird. Excellent site for school field trips. You can also access more information, and educational resources on their Naturespace page

 Stream Testing Kits

Greater Wellington Regional Council now has stream testing kits available to loan to schools. If you would like more information, CLICK HERE.

To book a kit for your school, email: streamkits@gw.govt.nz

The Current – Student Journal about Te Awarua o Porirua Harbour In 2017 and 2019 we worked with schools in the catchment for Te Awarua o Porirua Harbour to create a student journal of creative work. Both projects were led by Esme Dawson, an educator at Pātaka Art + Museum. Students worked with local artists and writers, and explored lots of different ways to express and share their ideas about their local waterways. You can access the journals online here:   The Current Ed 1 – Journal about Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour   The Current Ed 2_ 2020_Journal about Te Awarua o Porirua Harbour  

The Porirua Harbour Trust welcomed funding from the Philipp Family Foundation Charitable Trust for the education programme run in schools within the Porirua Harbour catchment until the end of 2021. Please read the information about teacher professional development opportunities, and funding support for low decile schools (found in the menu selection under Education).

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