A circle of log seats placed around a fire will be one of the outdoor classrooms when the Motueka Steiner School moves onto its new farm campus in May.
The school bought the 14-hectare block on the outskirts of town a decade ago but it has taken years of planning before work could begin.
Peter Garlick is the school's development manager and the driver of the long-running project.
He says the first stage will cost about $3 million.
"About half of that has been raised by donations and fundraising, and then half a million dollars of loans came from supporters and then a million from the bank."
Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Now, the final touches are being made to five eco-friendly classrooms that sit on a hilltop overlooking the district's fruit orchards and in the distance, Kahurangi National Park and Mount Arthur.
Students have already helped to plant an orchard, a food garden and build shade houses on the land.
The school's farm-to-table coordinator Lindsey Ellison says they have also built an outdoor kitchen where they cook the fresh produce they grow.
"The first thing the children do when they come up here is they go and harvest something to eat and then I can talk to them about what we will be doing.
Lindsey Ellison & Peter Garlick Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
"My drive is how to integrate the children and the school curriculum with what's happening on the wider farm," she says.
Plans include having cows, so the children can learn about milking and cheese-making, raising chickens and developing a commercial market garden.
Peter says they already have customers waiting in the wings for their seasonal vege boxes.
"We've got 100 students, so at least 50 families, so we've got a ready-made market and hopefully we'll be able to expand that beyond our own community in a couple of years."
Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
