Our Education team are passionate about transforming current and future generations through tangible learning experiences on the maunga. In 2023 we welcomed 4000 students through our programme.
If you are an educator, and want to find out more about what we can do for you and your students, then click the link below and email through your enquiry.
Learning opportunities
The Sanctuary Mountain® Maungatautari conservation education programme offers students the opportunity to:
- Discuss key conservation challenges facing Aotearoa/New Zealand’s wildlife and the technologies
Sanctuary Mountain® Maungatautari is using to protect them. - Encounter rare and endangered Aotearoa/New Zealand species in their natural forest habitat.
- Build on knowledge about our unique biodiversity (flora, fauna and fungi) and ecosystems.
- Learn about how species are monitored and managed in a sanctuary environment.
- Appreciate that people are part of the natural world.
- Discover the rich history of a community-led conservation project that is New Zealand’s largest fenced sanctuary.
- Identify how to take action to help care for our native species and environments that are also important for our own wellbeing.
- Understand the importance of the maunga to Mana Whenua.
- Concepts of mātauranga Māori.
Learning experiences could include:
Conservation challenges
Introduced pests and predators
- Where did they come from? Why are they considered pests? What can we do?
Native biodiversity
Birds, reptiles, invertebrates and plants – discover the interconnections within the forest
- What adaptations and different roles do living things play within the forest?
- Which native species have been translocated to Maungatautari?
- Discover how we care for, survey and monitor these species.
What will students see or hear?
During your visit students might see or hear North Island robins, tomtits, kākā, tūī, bellbirds, hihi, tīeke, fantails, pōpokotea, kererū and wētā.
Step into an environment that inspires and engages students' inquisitive minds and where learning is done by experiencing and immersing yourself in the natural environment!
We are a provider of the Ministry of Education Enriching Local Curriculum programme.
Our conservation education programme is proudly supported by Mother Earth NZ.
