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The leader of a unique school in Brookby on a quest to obtain a van to help him safely transport his students to and from their outdoor learning environments.
Alex Sherie is the founder and educator of Nature’s Den Forest and Farm School which educates children who live across Auckland. The nature-based education programme operates across several locations, he says.
“We currently work with around 60 children aged between four and 13 across our term programmes, helping tamariki build confidence, resilience and connection through hands-on, nature-based learning.
“Nature’s Den supports children from all walks of life, including many neurodiverse tamariki who often particularly thrive in outdoor, relationship-based environments.
“Our main site is located in Brookby on Donald’s Farm, a stunning working dairy farm that has become the heart of Nature’s Den and a place where tamariki can experience meaningful, hands-on outdoor learning.”
Sherie says the school’s mission is simply to help children get outdoors, connected to nature, building confidence, resilience, friendships, and a sense of belonging. One of the biggest barriers stopping more children accessing its programmes is transport.
“Many children and school groups would love to access our enriching programmes,” he says. “However, transport is often the limiting factor, particularly for families who struggle to get children to our sites, or schools wanting nature-based experiences off-site.
“A reliable passenger van would allow us to transport tamariki more safely and make our programmes more accessible to more families.”
Instead of waiting around for funding to become available, he’s decided to “try something a little crazy.”
About a month ago he began working to trade a single piece of bark all the way up to a safe and reliable 12-seater passenger van for Nature’s Den.
“The challenge has become about much more than transport,” Sherie says. “It’s also become about modelling confidence, courage, vulnerability, resilience and the power of simply asking, values we try to foster in the children we work with.”
So far, through the generosity of the local community, he’s traded the piece of bark for a mug, then for local honey, a dog ‘Bowen’ therapy voucher, a painting, a $350 content creation voucher, and most recently a Hillary Outdoors Whānau Camp Experience valued at $2100.
“Alongside this, community members have also generously donated a kids’ mountain bike and a Hampton Downs V8 hot-laps experience to help move us closer to the end goal,” Sherie says. “At the moment, we’re a little stuck trying to make the next leap, but we’re still hopeful the right person, family, business or connection will see the story and want to be part of the journey.
“We’re hoping to secure a safe and reliable 12-seater passenger van, ideally something practical with reasonable mileage that could safely transport children to and from our programmes.”
People, organisations and businesses that can help Sherie in his goal to acquire a van for Nature’s Den Forest and Farm School can email alex@naturesden.co.nz.
