- By Emma Lim, Tyndale Park Christian School Year 11 student, as published in the Eastern Times.
One of Tyndale Park Christian School’s greatest natural treasures has been largely out of reach of its students for almost a decade.
Now, the Tyndale bush is alive with children’s voices again.
On a recent Saturday, a crowd of excited onlookers attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the entrance to a new walkway through the bush.
This was the grand opening of the Tyndale Park Christian School Forest Boardwalk.
A wave of exuberant children surged forward, running at full speed down the newly laid gravel walkway, leaping gleefully onto the fresh wooden platform, and exploring the recently built paths, bridges and boardwalks.
Why is a long walkway and viewing platform so special? Part of the answer to the question can be found by exploring our beautiful school bush.
Tyndale is blessed with an area of native bush, a unique remnant of the native forest connected with the wider environment of neighbouring Murphy’s Bush in Flat Bush.
Its dominant plants are kahikatea, kohekohe and pūriri, towering trees with thick trunks and a long history.
Smaller trees, such as the matte green karaka, spiny orange totara, tufty cabbage tree, and slender nikau, also take residence here.
Philip Brinkman, Liam Scharenguivel, Philip Lim, and Usheen Kaur, cut the ribbon to open the boardwalk.
Even little shrubs and plants, including ferns and coprosma, fill in the gaps.
The bush also provides a home and stopping place for native birds commonly seen around Auckland, including tūī, kererū, pīwakawaka (fantails), riroriro (grey warblers) and pihipihi (silvereyes).
The Tyndale bush used to be a great part of school life, being the highlight of many students’ days and place where fun memories were made.
It was like the ultimate natural playground where forts could be built, games invented, bugs collected, birds counted, and friendships deepened.
However, concerns about safety and supervision in the bush led to its closure a decade ago.
The bush went from an action-packed home of play to a quiet ornament on the school grounds, only a decorative addition to the school landscape.
Now it has changed. After weeks of thoughtful, loving planning by members of the school board and diligent, warm-hearted work by volunteers from Friends of Tyndale, a solution was implemented.
This solution is a boardwalk that encompasses three pathways, all leading from different entrances around the bush to a central viewing platform.
From this, students can do exactly what their older counterparts had: Watch the
birds flitting through the trees, count the bugs on nearby leaves, play ‘house’, or just sit and watch the leaves whisper enchantingly in the wind.
Caroline Brinkman, centre, a recently retired teacher who taught at Tyndale Park Christian School for 40 years, gave a short speech at the opening.
The walkway will also allow students to see the native restoration work happening around them.
Since 2023, volunteers from the Friends of Tyndale group have planted more than 1000 young native seedlings in and around the bush.
These include mānuka, tītoki, pūriri, kahikatea, kohekohe, coprosma and rengarenga.
Students can now observe these plants growing without having to walk over the forest floor and potentially damage them thanks to the carefully constructed boardwalk and viewing platform.
On the day of the opening, children were encouraged to run around in a loop along each path and corner, getting acquainted with the facility’s layout.
As students, staff and families gathered around the small court entrance of the boardwalk, Miss Caroline Brinkman gave a short speech.
Miss Brinkman is a recently retired teacher at this school. She faithfully, enthusiastically and lovingly taught here for 40 years, touching the lives of many students.
Looking back through four decades of teaching, she recalled the many happy memories her students made in the bush, playing, exploring and learning.
Looking to the future with this new facility, she anticipated the making of more memories for generations to come.
Thanking the generosity and diligence of devoted volunteers, and the grace and provision of God, she closed her speech with a word of prayer and handed over to the four honoured guests.
A large crowd from the school’s community attended the event.
Philip Lim, a board member, and Usheen Kaur, a Year 13 student, shared one pair of scissors.
Philip Brinkman and Liam Scharenguivel, a new entrant student, shared the other pair.
They cut the ribbon at the same time, letting it fall ceremoniously onto the gravel ground.
The initial plan for the entry was for Usheen and Liam to lead the way, but before that was possible, the crowd of enthusiastic children was already scampering down the stairs, too eager to wait.
Just as instructed, they explored each path, noticed each platform, and made every loop.
In the bush, I observed the joy the children were experiencing while in the bush.
Some spotted mushrooms growing on the forest floor, others collected leaves and manuka flowers, admired the birdlife in the tree canopy, while some just sat together on the edge of the platform and talked about life.
The opening of this exciting new facility marks the beginning of hundreds of memories.
And God willing, students will still be walking these paths, discovering the bush and making their own memories for many generations to come.
“It was a dream come true,” Miss Brinkman said.
