Green School | Community

Our Community

Imagine a school where nature IS the classroom, where learners are educated for sustainability and given the skills they need to be change makers … not in the future, but NOW.

Welcome to your first glimpse of Green School. From wherever you are in the world, we invite you to explore what Green School offers to students, their families, the community and the world. Take a little time to look at all that we are able to share with you here.

Staff

Caroline Rennie

Head of School

Born and raised on a rural farm in Canterbury, Caroline is a worldly educator with passion for sustainability, the environment, local culture and of course, progressive education. We are thrilled to have such a mission-aligned educator guiding our young learners and wider community.

Caroline completed her undergraduate degree in Languages and Literature at the University of Waikato, before completing her educational training at Auckland College of Education. She completed her Masters through the Education University of Hong Kong. Caroline’s first international experience was in the South Pacific, where she spent 10 years of her formative educational life in Fiji with her family, experiencing social change and local initiatives that linked development and environmental stewardship. Career and international leadership opportunities then led her to Japan, South Korea and China, before her most recent role in Qatar.

Caroline loves that her role at GSNZ enables her to support the school’s future creators and entrepreneurs to transform the world by making sustainable choices available to everyone.

Whaea Di

Head of Learner Experience and Wellbeing

Whaea Di has been on the Green School in New Zealand journey since day dot as one of our founding teachers. She is a passionate educator and strongly believes it is an educator’s task to enthuse, motivate and empower students in discovering and achieving their personal potential. Creating and developing positive relationships is at the forefront of her practice, as is providing an environment where students feel emotionally safe and positive.

Di’s current role is as our Heart of School, which is both a crucial and incredibly special role at Green School New Zealand. In this position, Di is responsible primarily for learner support, learner transition, building relationships (including a School Community Network), wellbeing of students, staff and community, and school-wide events to ensure that we work towards a positive and thriving community.

Di is mum to two young boys, Kupa and Kyan, and the proud wife of Phil. Nicknamed Whaea Dancing Di she sure knows how to get people in the zone. Look out for her dance moves in assembly!

She thrives on supporting Green School students in gaining the skills they need to help them thrive personally, in this ever-changing world.

Michael & Rachel Perrett

Founders

We have a deep calling to bring joy into schools. At Green School Bali, we watched our own children, and others, come alive with confidence, awareness, happiness and presence. This drove a deep desire within us to make the Green School experience available in our home country of Aotearoa, New Zealand.

We live in a rapidly changing, increasingly connected world. A world of huge environmental threats and massive entrepreneurial opportunities. To survive and thrive in this new technological reality, our children – the leaders of the future – need to be adaptive, creative and resilient. They need to know themselves, connect with their passions, their community and their core purpose so they can engage with optimism, inventiveness and joy.

At Green School, we believe that three simple rules should underlie every decision in life: be local, let your environment be your guide, and envisage how your grandchildren will be affected by your actions.

Welcome to Green School New Zealand. Welcome to the Green School Way of learning.