The Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust with the assistance of children from Tikipunga Primary School, Whangarei will launch its new look kiwi recovery web site on Friday 04 July in Northland.

Established in November 2002, the Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust has been charged with building on the work of the Kiwi Recovery Programme to restore and increase kiwi species across the country. 

The Year five and six students from Tikipunga Primary School in Whangarei will be the first to test-run the new site from their digital classroom.

“The Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery web site will provide exciting interactive opportunities for students to learn about kiwi, the threats they face and the work being done to protect and enhance kiwi populations across the country,” says Paul Jansen National Kiwi Team Leader, Department of Conservation.

Designed by Blue Orb, the site uses the Microsoft.NET platform and content management server and is designed to make navigating around the site more intuitive. Blue Orb is itself a Whangarei-based charitable trust, focused on providing web design for conservation and environmental groups and projects.

“From the start of the redesign it was clear that the site needed to have a strong educational focus. To ensure a close link to the NZ School Curriculum a leading expert in web-based learning systems, Garry Falloon was commissioned to write and edit the content for the site’s new Kiwi Classroom module. We’re confident that students and teachers will find the new site a great new resource, and will help them to feel empowered to support the kiwi cause,” says Peter Douglas-Bell Head of Brand and Communication, Bank of New Zealand.

Within the Kiwi Classroom, keen young researchers can take up the challenge of the online Kiwi Quest. Students are encouraged to explore the new site www.kiwirecovery.org.nz along with a variety of other sites to research their answers for the quest.

Hosting students within the Kiwi Classroom will be Sniff; Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery’s animated mascot. “He’s named Sniff because the kiwi has an exceptionally good sense of smell. Kiwi are very inquisitive by nature, Sniff will encourage children to be inquisitive too. Interestingly kiwi are the only bird in the world with their nostrils at the end of their beaks and their sense of smell is second only to the South American Condor,” says Kieron Goodwin, Executive Director Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust.

Plans are also underway to add more functions to the site including full teachers’ resource to support the Kiwi Classroom, educational interactive games for children, e-cards, photo gallery and screensavers. The site will also include an in-depth ‘webumentary’ section to be entitled Kiwilife that will track the progress of individual kiwi through video clips, diary entries and stories.

The Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust is a partnership between the Bank of New Zealand and the Department of Conservation, which builds on the activities previously started in 1991 under the banner of the Kiwi Recovery Programme. For more information check out the web site at: www.kiwirecovery.org.nz

Media are invited to attend the launch of the new site at Tikipunga Primary School Tania Road, Tikipunga Whangarei, 11.20 Friday 4^th July.

For further information please contact:

Kieron Goodwin

Executive Director

Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust

Phone: 09 375 1084

Mobile: 029 478 4610

Jane Cotty

Public Relations Manager

Bank of New Zealand

Phone: 09 976 5610

Mobile: 029 200 6826

Tim Amos

External Relations Division

Department of Conservation

Phone: 04 471 3122