Sustainability – Introducing EarthMates
The Primary Campus and Secondary Campus have been working together to promote the shared responsibility of sustainability within our community. Students and staff have collaborated on a range of initiatives which aim to reduce our environmental footprint and use our natural resources wisely. Continue reading to find out more on the latest sustainability news from Term 1, 2023.
At the Primary Campus….
At the Primary Campus, sustainability is a big deal and it takes a whole tribe to assist the students in all the learning and doing that they have to do. We have had a SEMP Committee since 2012 (SEMP stands for School Environmental Management Program) but this year with a change of leadership we have a new name. EARTHMATES, chosen by the students at the end of 2022, this new name reminds us of the values of mateship and how we all live on Planet Earth, so we need to work together. Over the years we have been awarded many certificates and worked with lots of organisations to do our bit.
Check out this year’s Committee. We are always looking for volunteers for the garden, wetlands, and kitchen. If you have any ideas or fancy getting into nature, please email primaryadmin@smc.sa.edu.au or contact one of the people below.
- Annabel Burrell – Responsible for all things curriculum (Sustainability Curriculum Enrichment Coordinator and Year 1 teacher)
- Jo Gilmore – Head Golden Gnome (Director of Teaching and Learning)
- Mitchell Boulton – Leader of the Youth Environmental Leaders (YELs) and managing the wetlands (Year 4 Teacher & Writing Coach).
- Alan Tessari – Year 3 Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program and De La Sauce chef (Year 3 teacher).
- Erin Stanborough – Year 1 Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program (Year 1 teacher).
- Patrizia Puglia – FSC leader and bringing spirituality into our sustainable practices (Director of Spirituality and Mission).
- Robyn Palmer – Sustainability Support Officer, the green thumb and involved in EVERYTHING nature and sustainability related.
- Cathie Gaffney – Chief Chicken whisperer (Reception teacher).
- Matthew Faull – Nude food and waste management (Year 3 teacher).
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
Chicken News
The Reception classes have taken on the responsibility of caring for our school chickens this year. There are 4 chickens named ‘Chicky Chook’, ‘Sparkle’, ‘Ronnie’ and ‘Chicky’. Students feed them food scraps (especially vegetables and fruit) but we have to take care not to give them oranges, mandarins or onions. We collect the eggs each day and try not to bang them together on the trip back to class. The Year 1’s and Year 3’s use the eggs for their cooking classes and they say they are very yummy eggs. There has been lots of learning about how to care for our chickens and how to behave when we are around them – they do not like loud noises or anything running near them. We even have a few chicken whisperers who can safely pick up and cuddle the chickens too. ‘Chicky Chook’ loves a cuddle. Pop by and say “Hi!” sometime.
Cooking
Year 1
Year 1 have been cooking with lots of fresh produce homegrown in the garden. We are always keen for any other homegrown donations to inspire our cooking program! The Year 3s are also busy replanting new produce for the autumn season. De La Sauce was a big day, making 200 bottles of sauce with our Year 11 helpers.
Year 3
Cooking will begin in Term 2 for the Year 3 students. However, they were fortunate to work with our Year 11 students from the Secondary Campus to make Bruschetta. This was teamed up with De La Sauce making day that was organised by Robyn Palmer. A big thanks to Ms Palmer’s father, Nick Mercurio, for supplying the tomatoes and the equipment, and taking time to show and help the Year 3 students making and bottling sauce.
Gardening
Our Year 4s and their Year 2 buddies have been busy gardening this term. They started with the huge job of filling the garden beds with fresh soil. Every week has seen lots of planting of our winter veggies and picking the last of the summer veg. We have also picked basket loads of apples and peaches from our fruit trees (hidden behind the cubbies).
Ms Palmer also runs Recess and Lunch activities in the garden every Wednesday, where absolutely everyone is welcome to help out with all things gardening.
Youth Environment Leaders
Our newly appointed Youth Environmental Leaders for 2023 have been very busy working with Ms Robyn Palmer & Mr Mitch Boulton on several projects. Our biggest project this year will be to green our school. Our YELS have already presented their ideas to Mr Patton, who is completely on board with the ‘greening’. We will be fundraising early next term through a Market Stall to plant six mature trees in front of our Innovation Centre. We will also be planting the entire kiss n drop zone, after researching the plants that are suitable for that area.
Our YELS started the year with recycling training for our youngest students, and have been instrumental in promoting Earth Hour. Year 1B had a totally unplugged morning, as did many other classes. Year 4 focussed on discussing how fortunate we are to have access to resources, linking this to project compassion.
They have also been promoting our very first Ride2School day, encouraging as many families as possible to ride instead of driving. The health and environmental benefits are huge and of course riding is loads of fun!
At the Secondary Campus….
Reflection Garden
The Eco Squad students in Years 7 – 12 help to maintain our Reflection Garden. They have been collecting algae and over-enthusiastically growing plants to help keep the creek line flowing freely and feeding the gold fish. The students monitor the health of the fish and track their every movement.
College Orchard and Vegetable Garden….or just The Garden
The Eco Squad is a cocurricular lunchtime group for students in Years 7 to 12. We meet on Tuesday and Friday in The Garden.
Australian Food Plants
Australia is home to a vast number of edible plants. When grown in the right ecosystem, these plants provide valuable nutrition. We grow a small number of these in The Garden. These plants are helping our Food Technology students and members of the Eco Squad learn what these plants taste like and how to use them in our cooking. Their value is highlighted every summer as, left to their own survival over the Christmas break, they grow and fruit vigorously with no intervention by our team! This term, our Muntrie plant (Kunzea pomifera also known as emu apples, muntaberry or nonterry) produced it’s first full crop this year. Had the fruit survived the enthusiastic browsing of students and teachers, it would have been perfect for salads, an accompaniment for cheeses, jams, pies, muffins and with meats. Did you know that muntries have up to four times more antioxidants that blueberries? They taste a bit like a spicy apple.
Part of managing The Garden is creating structures. This term we’ve focused on constructing shelves to help us organise our shed and installing arches over one of the garden beds that will support our new passionfruit plants. Daniella Rachou (7GPC2) was lead on these projects and her work will, pardon the pun, bear fruit over the next twelve months as the vines provide fruit, shade and protection to the garden bed while the shelves help us be more organised!
Recycling
Recycling through community service work is an important aspect of our work on the secondary campus. The students manage our recycling drink cages sorting the containers and removing lids prior to the Maintenance Staff taking them to the recycling depot. It is a messy and smelly task that the students tackle (mostly because … smelly work) uncomplainingly. Their efforts help to support the charity work of the College and thus links our little patch to the ANZPPNG Lasallian Community.
Garden Art and Upcycling
Our garden will soon have some new pathways and to add a little bit of colour and fun, we have been creating our own mosaic tiles which will be added into the paths. Under the careful guidance of Ms Adriana Luppino, our Eco Squad have already completed eight beautiful tiles, and plan to add to that total.
We all know that Ms Palmer does not like anything to go into landfill, so she is always coming up with new ideas to upcycle old items. This term we have learnt how to convert old t-shirts into hanging plant holders. So simple and we all agree, they look great!
Flowers and More Flowers
Our sunflower garden sure was a beautiful sight this Summer. Dedicated to the memory of Jenna Crierie, we have saved the seeds and will grow more sunflowers every summer. We also now have three butterfly gardens, all with an abundance of colourful butterfly attracting flowers.
Food
What is not to like about food? Growing your own food adds to sustainability by growing locally and with the seasons. In 2022, the Eco Squad grew their first crop of potatoes. It was fantastic! You know how it is with potatoes, you never manage to find them all and so we harvested our second (and quite spontaneous) potato crop early this year. Ms Palmer and Ms Pearce suspect that they will be the crop that just keeps giving!
In Semester 2, 2022, Ms Kearin’s Year 9 Geography class investigated sustainable food production visiting the Food Farm and managing one of our raised vegetable beds. They applied their learning about seasonal planting, soil condition and planting combinations from their excursion which resulted in some of our most productive harvests early this year. The grape tomatoes were particularly amazing.
Year 7 Geography students have begun working with Ms Pearce and Ms Kearney in The Garden, investigating how green spaces contribute to liveable cities, and to understand how the water cycle links all parts of our lives. Stay tuned for their winter harvests next term!
Sustainability is also about connections. Food Technology students use produce from The Garden as part of their cooking and visit the site to learn about the plants their food comes from. Outdoor Construction students work with us to build all of the raised garden beds, paving and compost bays. This gives them an opportunity to develop their skills while also contributing to our community in a positive and productive way.
In addition to potatoes and muntries, we grow oranges, apples, mandarins, lemons, limes, dragon fruit (one day it will fruit!), seasonal vegetables, saltbush, pigface, and the Eco Squad is even trying to convince a pair of finger limes to fruit.
