Cape Sanctuary Visit

This term, students from High School 3,2,1 studied Pets. The manager of Cape Sanctuary asked if our students could build some nest boxes for the little blue penguins which are in decline in parts of Aotearoa. This linked into our study of pets by students learning that some animals can be kept as pets, but others are taonga and should be treated with respect as wild animals. They learnt that the penguins spend almost all of their life at sea and only return to shore to breed, so their work will provide a safe nesting haven. Students built ten penguin nest boxes during woodwork classes and at the end of term traveled out to the Ocean Beach side of Cape Sanctuary to help install them in the sand hills. Once set in the sand, the positions were recorded using G.P.S so that during the breeding season they could be found and checked to see if they were being used.  The manager commented that the workmanship was of a very high standard and asked if we could make some more.