After a successful first round of Treemendous School Makeovers, the Treemendous team is ready to do it all again. Four new schools have been selected for the second annual series of makeovers – the joint initiative by the Mazda Foundation and Project Crimson Trust.

Glenavon School (West Auckland), Papatoetoe North School (South Auckland), Malfroy School (Rotorua) and Hedgehope Primary School (Invercargill) were chosen from 158 applications to have their grounds enhanced with native tree gardens.

Mazda Foundation chairman Andrew Clearwater says the response from schools has been excellent. “Every application we received was unique with a lot of creativity and effort put in by both teachers and pupils at the schools which made the judging process tough. It was also very encouraging to see that many of the schools intended to include the makeover area as an ongoing part of the curriculum.”

“The Mazda Foundation is committed to the Treemendous School Makeover initiative. We see it as an important way to support environmental initiatives and educate our children about the importance of looking after the environment at a young age,” said Clearwater.

Two of the schools plan to create an outdoor classroom while another will develop a lawn area around a newly built confidence course. The final school will convert a large muddy area in the centre of the school grounds into an outdoor play area with a boardwalk.

Bridget Abernethy from Project Crimson said the high number of applications demonstrates the importance that many schools are now placing on the environment.

“We feel heartened by the commitment schools around New Zealand are making to the environment and look forward to fostering this commitment through the Treemendous programme,” says Bridget.

The school communities along with the Treemendous team will carry out the makeovers on a Saturday in March or April 2009.

If one of the schools is in your area and you would like to help out, please contact the school to register your interest or check back here for dates soon.

About Project Crimson

Project Crimson is a charitable conservation Trust that aims to protect New Zealand's native Christmas trees - pohutukawa and rata. Since the Trust was formed in 1990, volunteers have successfully established hundreds of thousands of pohutukawa and rata trees around New Zealand. Meridian Energy is the principal sponsor of the Project Crimson Trust. See www.projectcrimson.org.nz

About the Mazda Foundation

The Mazda Foundation was established by Mazda New Zealand in 2005 as a public charitable trust to give assistance to a broad cross-section of causes, including the improvement of our natural environment and the advancement of our young people’s education. See www.mazdafoundation.org.nz