Earth School Aotearoa
Earth School Aotearoa (https://www.earthschool.nz) is a place-based learning hub for children and families, located at Mangaroa Farms in Upper Hutt, near Wellington, New Zealand.
Designed for worldschooling and homeschooling families seeking depth, continuity, and belonging, Earth School offers nature-immersive, relationship-centred learning rooted in the land, local ecology, and seasonal rhythms of Aotearoa.
Children participate in hands-on learning across nature science, ecology, food systems, creative practice, storytelling, and care for land and community. Learning is integrated, age-responsive, and grounded in curiosity, wellbeing, and real-world relevance — supporting children to stay engaged academically while learning in ways that feel alive and meaningful.
Earth School Aotearoa operates as a permanent hub, welcoming both local learners and visiting worldschooling families for short- and medium-term stays (including multi-month participation). The programme is particularly well-suited to families seeking:
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Place-based learning with continuity
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Nature-rich, outdoor education
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Gentle academic integration alongside experiential learning
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Community connection while travelling
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A grounded alternative to screen- or itinerary-heavy worldschooling
Earth School is embedded within a wider regenerative farm and learning ecosystem, offering children the chance to learn with a place — not just pass through it.
Ages: approx. 5–12
Format: One-day-per-week and seasonal programmes
Location: Mangaroa Farms, Upper Hutt (45 minutes from Wellington)
Meet the Team
Learning at Earth School is facilitated by experienced, values-aligned educators who hold the learning environment with care, attentiveness, and consistency. Our kaiako bring backgrounds in education, science, outdoor learning, mataraunga Māori, creative arts, and child development. Our team works collaboratively to hold a consistent, relational learning environment across the week and to support mixed-age groups.
Venue Details
Tucked into a lush valley in Upper Hutt near Wellington, Mangaroa Farms is a living, working landscape where land, people, and learning are closely connected. Children come to know the land through walking, observing, growing food, swimming in the river, noticing seasonal change, and caring for shared spaces. Stewardship is learned through everyday practice. As a regenerative farm and forest, Mangaroa Farms provides a rich, multi-layered learning environment. Children move between outdoor exploration and indoor classrooms, engaging in nature-based learning, creative projects, storytelling, music, and shared rhythms. The Mangaroa Farms Shop offers fresh, regeneratively grown produce, pasture-raised meat, and locally made provisions, making it easy for families to eat well while living on the land. Food here is seasonal, thoughtfully produced, and deeply connected to the surrounding farm ecosystem. At the heart of Mangaroa Farms is a carefully tended central garden and events venue, recognised with a national four-star rating by the New Zealand Garden Society – a quiet reflection of long-term care, beauty, and stewardship. For worldschooling families, Mangaroa Farms offers the opportunity to settle into place while travelling.
Cancellation Policy
Flexible
What's Included
Beautiful accommodations, farm fresh meals, wellbeing programming, nationally acclaimed gardens, and hiking trails. Please contact us via our website (https://www.EarthSchool.nz/worldschooling/) in order to arrange stays of different lengths or configurations.