Golden Sands School’s Blog
Digging Into Term 2 2026 at Golden Sands School
Term 2 has been a busy one in the Golden Sands School garden. Despite the weather cooling down, our young gardeners have been working hard, learning plenty, and even doing a bit of healthy feasting.
Term 4 Adventures in Our School Garden
Wow! What a busy and exciting Term 4 we’ve had in the school garden! This year was extra special because our school garden turned one, and what better way to celebrate than with muddy hands, crunchy veggies, buzzing bees, and lots of smiles from our amazing tamariki.
Growing Together – Term 3 in Our School Garden
Term three has been another exciting season in our school garden, filled with planting, learning, and celebrating milestones. With the help of our tamariki, we’ve added two mandarin trees kindly sponsored by Tauranga City Council, an orange tree gifted by PIPS to mark the one-year birthday of our school garden and a peach tree donated by Te Puna Plum nursery. That brings us to a total of seven fruit trees in just one year!
Term Two in the Garden – Kumara, Birthdays & Butterflies!
Term Two has been full of excitement, learning, and hands-on discoveries in our school garden!
One of the biggest highlights was harvesting our very first kumara crop — all grown from just one kumara we sprouted last year.
Term 1 Garden Adventures: From Hotcakes to Caterpillars!
After a hotcake-dry summer that left our garden grilled and gasping for water, we were amazed to find some resilient treasures still growing beneath the soil. Out came rainbow carrots and some of the funniest-shaped potatoes we’ve ever seen! Our courgette plants also surprised us with a bumper crop of bright yellow courgettes.
Hidden Garden Treasures
What a year it has been at Golden Sands School! I can’t believe I’ve only been working there since this year when we started re-establishing the school garden back in May. It feels like the garden has been there much longer. We’ve already got thirteen garden beds, a shed and we planted the first fruit trees, everything looks so well-established.
Term 3 – Our First Rewarding Harvest
Where did Term 3 go? So much happened, and the time flew by! We began with kumara and potatoes, always a favourite because digging them up feels like a treasure hunt. We watched a video about potatoes and placed them in egg cartons on the windowsill. By the end of the term, they'd sprouted little "pimples" (shoots), ready to be planted.
Celebrating Community and Nature: Our School Garden Project
In Term 2, the garden plan came alive! The school community came together for a fantastic event that combined teamwork, learning, and a lot of fun. The goal was to build and fill twelve new garden boxes. On a Tuesday morning, there was an amazing turnout of support from parents, grandparents, and friends.
Welcome to our Garden!
Welcome to Golden Sands School! I’m Nina from PiPS, and I’m excited to work with your school and establish a new school garden with you!
In Term One, I had the pleasure of working with the Year One classes. I am surprised by the curiosity and interest of the tamariki, and I’m pleased to feel that they have gotten to know me by the end of Term One.