PiPS

PiPS, People Plants Schools

PiPS was formed in 2016 by a group of school parents in the Pāpāmoa Beach/Mt Maunganui area of Aotearoa New Zealand.

We are passionate about demonstrating to our tamariki and their whanau the principles of kaitiakitanga: respect and care for the environment, and an understanding of how to grow our own kai. Within the school environment a kai garden is one of the most effective ways we can ‘live’ these values. However, sustaining a school garden places a heavy workload on management, teachers and parent volunteers. These maara require ongoing planning, preparing, planting, harvesting, cooking and eating. The initial enthusiasm for a kura maara may wane, key volunteers may move on, or problems may arise that the kura has neither the time nor resources to tackle.

PiPS is an inter-school collective that employs part-time garden facilitators to work across our member schools, overseeing our maara and environmental programmes as well as other associated projects within the kura and our wider community. This makes it easier for a kura maara to become a permanent and contributing part of our schools’ environments.

We work with the Mauao Trust to gather seed from the Maunga, take them back to the kura where we sow and tend to them and then replant them back on the Maunga. We also work with Tauranga Moana Biosecurity Capital to deliver their Sentinel Garden programme.

HIGHLIGHTS/CHALLENGES FROM 2023

2023 was a growing year for PIPS.   Our team of facilitators grew from just two to four. Te Manawa o Papamoa started with the programme, where the community put in 16 garden beds and 46 fruit trees. Three of our participating kura have the whole kura taking part in the programme and for others the numbers keep growing.

We won the Western Bay Community Sustainable Future Award in March 2023, of which we feel very proud.

As a charity, we found securing enough funding for the 2024 year has been challenging. We realise that we are a small team and need to remember to consider that and not take on more than we can realistically deal with.

GET INVOLVED!

Please contact us through the website or send us an email if you would like to know more about PiPs and how you can help.

FINAL WORDS

Remember to plant what you and your family will actually eat!