Special Projects
Curriculum-Educating for Sustainability
PLUS (Parkfield Learning and Understanding Sustainability)
As you are aware, Parkfield Primary School takes its environmental education very seriously and throughout the year our students are provided with numerous opportunities to participate in environmental activities.
We are very fortunate to have forged a strong partnership with the Shire of Harvey’s environmental officer, Samantha Pickering, and we have assisted her with multiple planting projects throughout the local area over the years.
This year, these areas are as follows:
Year 3: Planting down by the Brunswick River, just off Gaudin Way.
Year 4: Planting at Fee’s Field, just off Cathedral Avenue.
Year 5: Planting down at the Australind Eco-Museum, off Old Coast Road.
Rooms 16 and 19: Planting and mulching at Parkfield Reserve.
This is located off Traquair Place in Australind, and Parkfield Primary School have assisted Samantha, at the request of the local residents, with rehabilitating this area since 2015. Given its name and proximity to our school, we have become Parkfield Reserves unofficial guardians and are committed to maintaining it for as long as is necessary.
Subsequently, in late 2018, we successfully secured a South 32 Junior Landcare Grant to assist with this project and so were able to purchase native seedlings, mulch and materials to build boxes for ringtail possums that inhabit the area. The Shire of Harvey, through Samantha Pickering, have agreed to install these on our behalf.
During last week’s Open Night, we showcased all the various recycling initiatives we support here at Parkfield through the PLUS stand in the Undercover Area. This was expertly manned throughout the night by dedicated eco-warriors from Room 16 that we’d like to thank: Kobe, Kate, Kezia, Shaylee and Seth.
Please consider utilising Parkfield’s Community Recycling Station (located outside of the front office) if you have any of the following items:
*aluminium cans
*batteries
*mobile phones (including batteries and accessories)
*ink cartridges
*newspapers (collected by the P&C to be sold and used as hydro mulch)
*bread tags (for conversion into wheelchairs)
*plastic lids (numbers 2 & 4 only) (collected for Envision to be converted into prosthetic limbs).
Each day, we prevent our fruit and veg scraps from going into landfill and creating dangerous methane gas by collecting them for consumption by our worms. However, while these critters are extremely well fed, they are unable to consume all the organic waste that we create. As we have not yet been allocated a FOGO bin from the Shire, the excess of this is taken home by staff and either fed to their chickens or added to their own compost or FOGO bin.
We generate plenty of organic waste each week, therefore, if you would like some of this for your own chickens, please see Sarah Dunbar-Stuart in Room 16 about our new initiative, ‘Bring a Bucket’ starting next term.
Finally, as you are aware, we have been carefully watching our waste since the start of last year.
Walking around the school during recess and lunch, we have continued to notice many students eating waste free lunches, or lunches that contain very little single use plastic. ‘Waste Free Wednesdays’ have become part of our new norm. On these days students are asked to bring waste free lunches to school if possible and to take any rubbish they may have home with them, including any uneaten food. Packaging and any uneaten food from meals ordered through the canteen are collected by the team of Waste Warriors for composting.
On the PLUS stand we had information about the cost effectiveness of waste free lunches versus those containing singe use plastic, and fact sheets about how to make beeswax wraps (a wonderful, reusable alternative to plastic wrap.) If you would like to find out more about these, please see Sarah Dunbar-Stuart in Room 16 or Pam Offer in Room 19.
Thank you to everyone who has helped contribute to our waste reduction thus far.
