BLAKE

BLAKE inspires people to lead a sustainable future for Aotearoa. linktr.ee/blake_newzealand Sir Peter Blake was an inspiring and visionary kiwi leader.

BLAKE keeps Sir Peter's leadership legacy alive by recognising and celebrating leaders across all fields and pursuits through the BLAKE Leadership Awards and Young Leader Awards. These BLAKE Leaders, join a growing group of individuals who follow in the footsteps of Sir Peter and possess many of the characteristics admired in him. A life spent on the world's oceans instilled in Sir Peter Blake the

certainty that action is needed to preserve and protect this precious resource. Today, BLAKE seeks to carry on his work through our environmental programmes. Our annual BLAKE Inspire empowers over 150 young kiwis and 90 primary school teachers with knowledge and confidence to take action on topical environmental issues with a further BLAKE Inspire programme for teachers. Every year we send up to 15 BLAKE Ambassadors on incredible environmental opportunities. Students and teachers from BLAKE Inspire are then eligible for an experience with BLAKE Expeditions.

25/05/2026

Exciting news... BLAKE Inspire for Teachers dates have been confirmed, and applications are open NOW!!

Dates:
28 September-2 October
5-9 October

If you're a kaiako from Aotearoa, looking to further your knowledge on environmental education, this is a programme you can't miss.

Fully funded by the Ministry of Education, it's a week which will stay with you forever, surrounded by like-minded teachers, environmental experts including Ruud Kleinpaste, Sally Carson, and Frazer Dale, and providing hands-on experiences and tools to inspire the next generation of environmental champions.

If you need any more reasons to consider applying, check out what previous participants of BLAKE Inspire for Teachers have said about the programme;

“This whole experience has forever changed me as a person and an educator. Thank you for taking such good care of us, the manaaki shown and felt has been phenomenal. Thank you. I believe all educators need to experience BLAKE Inspire.” - 2025 participant.

"What an incredible week! This is such an empowering and leading framework for professional development...The use of incredibly engaging experts has been impeccably balanced with the facilitation from the amazing and highly skilled Blake staff. I will be recommending this course to every teacher I know!" - 2025 participant.

“AMAZING week, I feel well and truly inspired, thank you so much. Hands down the best PD I have ever done, my kete of resources and ideas is overflowing.” - 2025 participant.

“Thank you so much for allowing me to meet the most inspiring people and learn such incredible knowledge. Thank you doing what you do for us, the children, the environment and NZ as a whole. Such a variety of experts who are passionate but also able to share their knowledge in an accessible way.” - 2025 participant.

Share widely with any teachers you think may be interested. Link for more information, and to apply below:
https://www.blakenz.org/programmes/blake-inspire/blake-inspire-for-teachers/

22/05/2026

BLAKE Inspire for Students is just around the corner!!

With six weeks to go until we welcome our first intake of rangatahi, we're celebrating former participants who have brought their action plans to life. (full story below)

Liam Hodgson attended BLAKE Inspire in December last year, and has since put together a proposal to establish a trapping network in the forest surrounding his school's offsite campus at Tihoi.

Eventually it would cover 60,000 hectares near the Pureroa Forest, and his proposal involves resident students running and monitoring it's progress as part of their time spent off site.

“It is the home for precious endemic manu like Pōpokotea, Tītipounamu, and Kōkako. Pests like possums and rats not only compete for food resources but decimate the wildlife directly through predation,” he explains.

With school support and some funding already secured, he's confident his plan has momentum, and believes there are many benefits, including being a great opportunity for students to make a practical contribution to the local area.

“If you’ve got ideas and the time to put together a solid plan, you’d be surprised who will listen and get behind you,” he says.

His advice to all students attending Inspire this year who will be challenged to think about their action plans;

“Get started on it straight away, rather than leaving it to do later,” he says.

The next BLAKE Inspire will unfold in the Waikato from Sunday 4th – Thursday 9th July.

https://www.blakenz.org/2026/05/21/time-ideas-and-one-student-driven-to-restore-new-zealands-native-forest/

13/05/2026

BLAKE Explorers has reached a milestone moment, reaching its 1000th student as the final three-day programme of Summer wraps up.

Since its launch in 2020, BLAKE Explorers has now reached its 56th programme, with 1000 students and 120 teachers having participated across Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.

While the landscapes and activities vary slightly across the motu, the aim remains the same; To increase hauora through connection to te taiao. This in turn gives tamariki a renewed understanding of why it’s so important to protect our natural world.

Our 1000th BLAKE Explorer says the three days of outdoor activities left him feeling closer to his class, pointing out snorkelling and kiwi spotting as his personal highlights.

BLAKE is hugely grateful to its programme partner, for supporting this programme.

BLAKE Explorers is supported by , @(Auckland), (Wellington) and Sport Canterbury (Christchurch).

11/05/2026

Join our team at BLAKE!
We're on the lookout for an Environmental Educator to help us deliver our programmes in the Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland region, including NZ-VR, BLAKE Explorers and public events and activations.
This is an exciting opportunity to connect young people to our natural environment through virtual reality and experiential learning programmes. You'll work within a diverse, dynamic team travelling to schools and kura around the Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland region.
Keen to know more? Click below:
https://www.blakenz.org/2026/05/11/blake-environmental-educator-part-time/

05/05/2026

The Ocean Race stopover team in New Zealand has confirmed a partnership with BLAKE as official charity partner of the New Zealand stopover - coming to Auckland in February 2027!!

We're excited to be part of this collaboration which carries forward Sir Peter Blake's legacy of ocean advocacy.

Speaking in front of Steinlager 2 at a media launch this week, The Ocean Race Chair Richard Brisius spoke about the special connection between Sir Peter Blake, The Ocean Race, and it’s return to New Zealand.

Sir Peter Blake is an icon of The Ocean Race, and his time spent competing in the event helped inspire him to become a champion for the health of the ocean. The Ocean Race is committed to using its platform to raise awareness of critical issues such as ocean health and climate change. We're very proud to be the official charity partner of the Auckland stopover, and excited for February 2027!!

Full release below;
https://mediacentre.theoceanrace.com/en/press-releases/en/93f258

03/05/2026

Do you know a school that would benefit from our new virtual reality lesson, NZ-VR Climate Change? Our foundation partner is supporting the launch by giving away 15 FREE lessons to schools across Aotearoa!

To help spread the word, they’ve teamed up with local schools who experienced this unique virtual reality lesson first-hand, to help design posters spreading the word.
Check out their wonderful mahi in these images.

Thank you to the students at Sylvia Park School, Māngere East School and St Mary MacKillop Catholic School for helping bring NZ-VR Climate Change to life!

Know a school that would benefit?
Nominate them now by answering a few simple questions. Competition link below 👇

https://www.westpac.co.nz/about-us/sustainability-community/partnerships/blake-nz-vr-climate-change-launching-in-schools-across-aotearoa/

The NZ-VR Climate Change lesson is designed for intermediate-aged students (generally years 7-8 or 11-13 yrs in age). Entries are open until 31st May at 11:59am.

24/04/2026

Check out this cool challenge happening this weekend!! If you haven’t tried the iNaturalist app, it’s an awesome way to identify plants, bugs and wildlife in your backyard or local areas. Try it out!!

20/04/2026

How cool is this!!! If you know a school that would love to have our brand new virtual reality lesson, NZ-VR Climate Change, brought to their students you can nominate them now, thanks to our foundation partner Westpac NZ.
Check it out to learn more!!

16/04/2026

What's been happening at BLAKE recently?!

Here's a little overview, and link to full newsletter below.
https://mailchi.mp/blakenz.org/blake-newsletter-vol-17446636

🍂 Our 2025 Annual Report is out! It's always fun reflecting on programmes throughout the year, and 2025 was a goodie. You can read it in full on our website.
☀️NZ-VR: Our virtual reality education programme has been running in schools across Aotearoa, and now includes a brand new lesson on Climate Change, in addition to our 'Threats to the Moana' and 'Marine Mammals' lessons.
🍃BLAKE Ambassadors: Our 12 rangatahi have been working alongside organisations including the Department of Conservation, Earth Sciences New Zealand, University of Waikato, and Antarctica NZ on a range of projects across the country.
🌊BLAKE Explorers: These three-day experiences have been running, at times simultaneously across Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, keeping our kaimahi super busy over the Summer months. Our last programme will run in Auckland next week, with a special milestone to celebrate too..
✨BLAKE Inspire: We're getting excited! There's two students programmes set to run in July and December. Our team has been busily reviewing applications from across Aotearoa and looking forward to meeting the next cohorts.

A huge mihi to our programme partners for continuing to support BLAKE and enabling this mahi.

05/02/2026

Mark your calendars - BLAKE Inspire for students 2026 applications open in ONE WEEK!
We'll let you know about it right here, and the application link will go live on February 13th.
It's an opportunity for students to work together with scientists, environmental experts, a diverse range of leaders and other like-minded students to develop strong leadership skills while learning about topical environmental issues and how they can take action to tackle them.
Share this opportunity far and wide with rangatahi across Aotearoa and get them excited to apply!!
Read all about the programme on our website:
https://www.blakenz.org/programmes/blake-inspire/

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175 Quay Street
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http://www.blakenz.org/

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