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Tomarata School room six students got ‘stuck in’ with honey harvesting. Pictured, Teilah Melrose.
Year 5 and 6 students from Tomarata School harvested an incredible 40 litres of honey from their hives last month.
It was the first harvest for the school’s new beekeeping programme that began last spring.
Over the summer, children learned about queen cells, how to stop hives from swarming and how to protect from Varroa mite and American Foul Brood disease.
The school fundraised with a Givealittle page last year to buy equipment, and Richard Kidd, from Marshwood Apiaries in Kaiwaka, helped out with a hive.
Teacher Chris Rhodes says the next step will be for students to design labels for jars to sell the honey.
“It is what we called integrated learning, where kids learn to do real things by applying subjects like maths and art,” Mr Rhodes says.
The beekeeping is part of Tomarata Schools ‘garden to table’ programme that has seen them harvest fruit, vegetables and honey.
Students will build a roadside stall to sell the produce. A student council called Student Voice will decide what to do with the proceeds, whether it is investing in more hives or in other produce.
