Welcome Bay School - Katreena Daniels

School: Welcome Bay School

Host: Bay of Plenty Regional Council

Region: Tauranga, Bay of Plenty

Welcome Bay School in the sunny Bay of Plenty believes that science needs to be practical, taught within a meaningful context and driven through the children by the process of inquiry/discovery. We want our students to engage in real life experiences that capture their fascination and contextualise learning across curriculum. Science is a vital pathway to help provide the knowledge, skills and competencies for our students in this rapidly changing world.  Science teaching and learning offers the opportunity for wonderings and imaginings that enhance our students’ ability to engage in the world around them, and help them approach and understand the what, the how and the why questions that they naturally ask.

Katreena has 10 years teaching experience in rural and urban settings.  She has been teaching at Welcome Bay school for four years and has been an influential leader during this time in terms of our school innovations. Katreena has had the opportunity to teach children predominantly in our junior school up to year three with a range of abilities and cultural backgrounds. She has taken on the role of growing the capacity of Science integration into our school curriculum for the last 2.5 years and we have seen significant growth across the school as a result of this focus.  Katreena has also engaged with the wider community, utilising Discovery through Nature, and House of Science, to support building capacity and offer opportunities for students to experience practical science.  

Katreena was hosted by the Kaituna catchment team at the Bay of Plenty Regional Council whose work is centered on current and future-focused projects relating to sustainable land and water management in the Bay of Plenty.  Throughout her placement she had the opportunity to work alongside scientists, local iwi, geotechnical engineers, developers, community engagement teams and independently out in field.  

Some of the key projects Katreena took part in were:

• Monitoring environmental change on and around Papahikahawai Island as part of a restoration and enhancement project. 
• Consultation with iwi to establish a mauri monitoring programme and ensure projects are culturally responsive and inclusive.
• Water quality monitoring for Whakapoukorero Wetland Development and Ford Road Pump Station upgrade.
• Developing a native forest test site monitoring programme at Te Rae o Pāpāmoa (Pāpāmoa Hills Regional Park) in partnership with Tāne’s Tree Trust.
• Attending Te Tumu structure planning sessions with developers, Council and other agencies planning for 20,000 extra people east of Pāpāmoa.
• Synoptic surveying across waterways throughout the Kaituna catchment.
• Surveying for myrtle rust with Ministry for Primary Industries.
• Working with the Regional Council’s Community Engagement team running Waiora water training and planning and delivering a fish passage activity for Hands On Water to school children from twenty school’s across the Bay of Plenty.

Through these many experiences, Katreena has been able to actively engage with the Nature of Science and the Science Capabilities in situations which relate directly to local, national and ultimately global issues.  She has had the chance to see the projects through a bicultural lens and is excited to further this learning.   Katreena has developed a deep contextual understanding of how diverse the field of science is, how scientists work, the ways in which they communicate, the importance of rigorous data gathering and the work that then goes in to making decisions utilising this data. Katreena has loved every moment of her host placement, the workshops in Wellington and leadership course at Otago University.  She is looking forward to sharing her experiences, knowledge and ideas with the Welcome Bay School learning community.