ȽÁU, WELṈEW̱ Tribal School Program
The PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ Native Plants & Garden program offers weekly workshops for the students at the ȽÁU,WELṈEW Tribal School and W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Secondary
Our Program
The PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ Native Plants & Garden program offers weekly workshops for the students at the ȽÁU,WELṈEW Tribal School and W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Secondary. Occasionally we invite the students from the Saanich Adult Education Centre as well.
The program gives the opportunity to learn outside of the classroom. We are located on the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board grounds which makes it very convenient for students to attend our weekly workshops.
Our programs offer an opportunity to experience our outdoor classroom located at PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱. We teach students about growing, planting, and harvesting native plants like JSÁY (douglas fir), ḰȽO,EL (camas), and DEḴEṈIȽĆ (thimbleberry). As well as, growing fruits and vegetables like kale, raspberries, carrots and so much more.
Our Curriculum
Our workshop schedule has been inspired by the 13 wsanec moons and we teach in seasons.
We start our program in ĆENIȾOȽEṈSET (autumn) and dedicate those workshops to the final harvests of the season. We get our gardens ready with our annual “Earth’s Blanket” workshops to tuck in the garden with native leaves. It’s a great opportunity for the students to learn about how leaves decompose, and the benefits of leaf mulch by providing much needed nutrients to the soil.
ĆENIȾOȽEṈ (winter) is when we have been having fun finding different ways for the students to connect with nature inside the classroom. We have had workshops that invite local Elders from the community to connect with the students by sharing their stories, teachings, and artistry. We’ve made wool pom-poms, clam shell rattles, and have learned about traditional medicines from local elders. In the new year we switch over to focus on some of the activities that the youth enjoy doing such as making mud pies, native seed bombs, weaving cedar, and creating buttons to express ourselves.
ĆEN₭I,LES (spring) is when our workshops gear up for lots of hands on learning at the PEPAKEN HAUTW outdoor classroom. We greet the plants that are waking up and the animals that are coming back home. We add veggie starters back into the raised veggie beds. We teach students how to propagate plants to reintroduce back into the restoration sites. We finish our school year off with tea making workshops with loose tea.
Our Site
Located at ȽÁU,WELṈEW Tribal School the PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ Private Nursery is used as our classroom to facilitate land based learning and cultural connection to land. The garden is also used to propagate and support native plants until they are utilized in our restoration projects or shared with community. The students learn how to support and increase the presence of native plants on their homelands through our garden education program. All of the work the students do while learning at PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ directly promotes the restoration of their community. We DO NOT sell plants from our private garden nursery.
Along with the native plant propagation space, our garden also includes raised beds and other urban gardening materials to teach students valuable tools they can use to foster food security and mitigate climate change.
Our outdoor classroom also includes an established SISEJ and KLOEL ANEC which have taken over 14 years to grow and blossom into a functioning learning and harvesting space.
If you would like to learn more about our Native Plants & Garden Education Program please feel free to read our annual reports below!