Our native corridor continues to grow and the Burnside butterflies have a new home.

This term the Environment Group have focused their attention on developing our new forest in Jellie Park. Christchurch City Council have provided funding for our work alongside the Hewlings Stream which winds its way to the lake. This is a long term project but we have added over 200 hundred native trees and shrubs and with recent precipitation they are thriving. A special mention to our friends at Tree Tech who have generously donated mulch to support the initiative. The Environment Group is very grateful to the many students who come out every week and work hard to develop our native corridor. Te Uru our own Burnside Forest is in excellent health and we hope that the increasing food it provides will continue to attract the local feathered population. We are dreaming of the day when tui, bellbirds and kereru make it a regular seasonal destination. We have also planted forty meuhlenbeckia axillaris around the Burnside high ropes course beside the hockey turf. This is part of a wider local initiative to attract a rare native butterfly that only feeds on this shrub. Meulenbeckia are deciduous but we hope that come the spring they will burst into life and the butterflies will make our school their home. 'Build it and they will come' remains a mantra that we hold dear to our hearts.