Latest news with #KerikeriHighSchool
RNZ News
a day ago
- General
- RNZ News
'It's really nasty': Toxic plants destroyed in high school competition
Aroha Chase tackles a roadside infestation in Pakaraka, in the Far North. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf A competition dreamed up by high school students and a dedicated teacher has stopped as many as 10 million seeds of a toxic pest plant spreading into the Northland environment. Kerikeri High School's Northland Moth Plant Competition , which wrapped up last month, encouraged people around the region to collect seed pods from the invasive vine , as well as pulling the plants up by the roots. Each seed pod can release up to 1000 seeds, which travel as far as 25km on the wind. Year 13 student Richard Norton, of the school's Save All Viable Environments (SAVE) group, said the fast-growing vine was a threat to native forest, but also infested shelterbelts, gardens and verges. "The vines grow up trees and smother them, which causes the plants to die, so they endanger our native species." It was hard to say which weed was Northland's worst, but moth plant was certainly a contender for the title. "It's definitely one of the worst because they grow quite quickly, and each pod has 1000 seeds in it. So they reproduce very rapidly, and can take over entire forests and cause a lot of damage," Norton said. A moth plant showing the vine's distinctive seed pods. Photo: Supplied / Hayley Bloch-Jorgensen The climbing vine, which was native to South America but introduced to New Zealand as an ornamental plant, produced small white or pink flowers, and large numbers of choko-like pods. The seeds were carried on the wind by fine, silk-like filaments, much like dandelion seeds. It was also known as kapok vine or, in Australia, as jumbo weed. It favoured frost-free parts of the country. Kerikeri High teacher Kate Crawford, who ran this year's competition, said another distinctive feature was the white sap it produced from even minor contact. "It's really nasty. The sap is quite toxic. It can be a skin irritant and if it gets in your eyes, it can actually cause blindness," she said. "And it grows really fast. I've watched some on the roadside that within one year had completely covered a tree. We had a lady contact us at the start of the competition, she'd removed 500 pods from one tree, and just didn't know what to do with them." The kids of Oromahoe School, in the Far North, with their haul of moth plant pods. Photo: Supplied / Oromahoe School Crawford said the contest had previously targeted schools, but this year it was opened up to the public. Contestants had to provide photographic evidence of the pods and vines, complete with roots, they had collected over a four-month period. They were provided with pre-paid rubbish bags because composting was not enough to kill the seeds. Norton said by the time the competition closed on July 18, the top three teams alone had collected just under 12,500 pods and vines. "It was cool. A lot of people joined and the amount of pods everyone collected was insane. Definitely a lot more than I thought." With more than 10,000 pods collected, each containing up to 1000 seeds, that was a huge dent in the plant's future spread. "That's about 10 million seeds that won't be going out there and growing into other plants anymore. So it's a lot more future moth plants that we don't have to deal with." Norton said the contest had also raised awareness of the problem plant, and he hoped it had encouraged people to continue removing the pods before they ripened. Moth Plant Competition winners Piripi King and Aroha Chase, with daughter Kalliope, 3, adopted the team name Chasing Kings. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf The winning team was Chasing Kings of Pakaraka, on State Highway 1 south of Kerikeri. Members Aroha Chase and Piripi King - and daughter Kalliope, 3 - collected a staggering 5776 pods and vines, earning them $500 cash plus native seedlings for their property. The real prize, however, was the greatly reduced number of pest vines in their area. Chase said she had spent hours every weekend battling moth plant on verges and in hedges around their neighbourhood. "I really dislike this plant, mostly because it's very invasive. It's a clever plant. If you don't fully remove it, it has the ability to regrow from really old roots. It's got a lot of pods per vine and each pod seems to have hundreds and hundreds of seeds." Chase was "very surprised" to win. "It was rather competitive but for us it was more that we were pleased with our efforts, and we were curious to know how others got on, because, after all, it's a good environmental win. We also hoped it might provide Northland Regional Council with data to support other weed control initiatives." Every moth plant pod contains up to 1000 seeds. Photo: Supplied / Hayley Bloch-Jorgensen Crawford said the competition had been sponsored by Kerikeri Rotary and the regional council, while Ngāti Rēhia's Takou Kauri Sanctuary had provided prizes and a local business had upgraded the contest website. She was convinced the contest had made a difference. "I was talking to one of the council's biosecurity officers, and he said he was gathering up pest plants to take to a school, but he was actually having trouble finding moth plants to show kids what it looked like because we'd done such a good job around Kerikeri." Crawford hoped to persuade the regional council to take over the competition next year, but vowed to keep it going if no one else would. Kerikeri also has a STAMP group - short for Society Totally Against Moth Plant - which maps and removes infestations. The group also organises occasional weeding trips to hard-to-reach but severely overgrown locations such as the islands in Kerikeri Inlet. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Bay News: Jam Sandwich to perform at Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival
They all have busy day jobs and families so full band gigs are fairly rare but they often do smaller two- or three-piece gigs, especially in summer. For the jazz festival they expand to bring in some local kids from the Kerikeri High School music programme. Cath McGlinchy is a teacher at the high school and band 'mother' who spots and mentors the talent from there. If one or two of them show promise, she will see if they are keen to play with the core group at the festival. Rhys Johnston, who plays guitar and trombone with the group, said they have enjoyed playing with the students over the years. 'We get a kick out of helping them write songs, develop horn section parts or backing harmonies and we really see them grow as musicians.' This year they will have Bella Mason and James Dawes with the group. They have both gone on from Kerikeri High School to study full time and complete masters degrees while still performing as solo artists or in a variety of bands while they have been studying. Bella Mason is performing with Jam Sandwich at the Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival. Johnston said James is a virtuoso who is in high demand in Auckland, being continually asked to play in a variety of bands. He's on saxophone for the festival. Bella, he said, is a great performer, she is classically trained but can 'absolutely belt out big rock and blues numbers as well'. 'She is a talented guitarist too, but we've asked her to just get out front this year and strut her stuff on vocals.' This year the band have written and picked a song list that will allow these two performers to demonstrate their abilities. 'It has been an absolute pleasure to see these two grow from shy young Kerikeri High School students into incredibly talented and confident performers,' said Johnston. For the festival group Cath plays keyboards, Rhys guitar and trombone, Chris is on guitar and Bill on bass. Their usual drummer (Jesse) has gone back to the US for a couple of months so they have brought in Maki Tuisano, another surfing buddy from Gisborne to fill the gap. The music festival runs over three days from Friday. There are six venues across Paihia and Russell, with more than 40 different bands and artists performing. Tickets and the schedule are available from Ministerial advisory group to hold meeting in Kerikeri The Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime is seeking feedback through a series of events around Northland aimed at shaping the Government's response to rising retail crime in the region. Retail crime currently costs the country $2.7 billion annually. The group has been consulting with business communities around the country and says feedback will help shape the Government's response to the escalation of retail crime in communities. The initial objectives of the Ministerial Advisory Group are to provide advice on possible legislative changes to empower security guards to deal with retail offenders, allow retail business owners to deal with shoplifters and to enable the use of facial recognition technology. Entry is free to the Ministerial Inquiry into Retail Crime – Kerikeri, August 13 from 5.30pm-7pm at the Turner Centre. Competitive picking of moth plant Between April and July this year a competition was held to see who could collect the most moth plants and pods throughout Northland. Participants from the Bay of Islands collected from Kerikeri to Kawakawa and were made up of individuals who picked by themselves or in groups as, literally, a collective exercise. The competition was originated last year by Kate Crawford, one of the school's teachers, who heads up the Senior SAVE students, which is an environment initiative focused on promoting sustainability and environmental awareness within the school and wider community. She approached the Northland Regional Council and Far North District Council to see if either wanted to run the competition for the pervasive weed and both said they didn't have the time or funding to do it. Just some of the thousands of moth plants and pods collected in a competition run over a three-month period to July this year. She approached the senior SAVE group at the school and they took on the challenge both last year and for this year and head boy, Solomon Dickey, made the website in 2024. 'With the help of Ben Perry from Vision Consulting we made the website more legally sound and easier to use,' said Crawford. 'We gained more prizes with Ngāti Rehia Takou Kauri Sanctuary matching the Rotary and Vision Consulting donations.' The winning team went by the name of Chasing Kings. They are a family from Pakaraka who collected 5776 pods and plants on 30 different trips to various locations, which proved their dedication. They won $500 in cash and a native plant voucher. Second prize went to the Bay of Islands Walkways and Walking Trust with 4072 pods and plants collected. They received a $200 cash prize and $100 native plant voucher. Third place went to Kerikeri Homeschoolers, who collected 2611 pods and plants and won $100 cash prize and $100 native plant voucher. As a fulltime teacher, Crawford doesn't have the resources to connect to as many people as she would like. She is hoping a bigger group will run the competition next year and that it will become established in Northland as a yearly drive.
NZ Herald
08-05-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Proposed social media ban for under-16s gains support in Northland
NetSafe had expressed concern around how the ban will work and what the ramifications could be for youth. In Northland, Tai Tokerau Principals' Association spokesman and Whangārei principal Pat Newman was fully supportive. 'We know that in Whangārei we've had teenage suicides as a result of bullying on the internet.' He said some children had been 'scared stiff' to attend school because of cyber-bullying. Newman believed social media allowed for a disconnect that made it easy for young people to write 'nasty, vindictive things'. Children as young as 11 were sending explicit images through social media platforms, too. 'It's easy to send photos of yourself that in 10 years you may not want people to have seen.' Newman said children as young as 9 were organising fights online. The issue came to light in the media last year when a 14-year-old was left with a concussion and other injuries after a violent assault at the Fireworks Spectacular event. The video, circulated widely on social media, showed the boy being kicked in the head. Two students were also assaulted at Kerikeri High School last month, with principal Mike Clent concerned a video of the fight may have been circulating online. Newman believed social media encouraged 'inappropriate adult behaviour' to be undertaken by youngsters. 'We would not let a 10-year-old hop behind the wheel of a fast car and drive off without anybody supervising them,' he said. 'Yet we let them play with and use something just as lethal.' Newman acknowledged social media was a valuable tool in the right hands but people under 16 were still developing. Principals were doing all they could to educate and prevent harm but Newman said a level of responsibility needed to come from parents as well. Netsafe chief executive Brent Carey said Australia's Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill was an example of legislative gaps. 'Our decades of work in this space have shown us the multifaceted nature of these challenges, and effective solutions typically require a more nuanced and long-term approach.' Carey said implementation of the bill and subsequent challenges were of significant concern. Some challenges with Australia's ban included exemptions for platforms like messaging apps, online gaming platforms and services for health and education. 'Such exemptions could lead to inconsistencies in online safety measures and potentially shift risks to less moderated environments.' He said the Australian Human Rights Commission had concerns the ban was a 'blunt instrument' that could inadvertently harm young people by cutting access to support networks. Whangārei Intermediate School learning support co-ordinator Christine Thomson supported the ban. She had observed that students between 10 and 13 years old frequently used social media without supervision. Thomson had seen situations where students had spoken to people posing as teens. Fights were also organised, filmed and posted 'immediately' online, she said. Cyber-bullying had driven some students to be so anxious they avoided school altogether as well. Thomson said the problem was difficult to fully police as pages or groups that were shut down often resurfaced under new profiles. Serious incidents were often reported to Netsafe or police, where required. She felt students were too young to fully understand the responsibility social media use required. Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.
