Clarendon Vale Primary School students are leading the way in environmental activities that make a difference to their school and in their local community. The Environmental Leadership Initiative is part of the school’s Kitchen Garden Program, where students learn about growing food, sustainability and the importance of biodiversity. They harvest produce for kitchen classes and learn to prepare healthy, seasonal meals.
Green thumbs up for budding environmental leaders
Project Officer for the Program, Serena King, said that there were benefits for everyone.
“The Kitchen Garden Program is an integral part of the school”, she said.
“It gives students a chance to learn real-world, practical life skills, as well as engage and connect with each other, the community and environment.
As one student said, “You are welcome in the kitchen and garden no matter who you are”.
The school’s Environmental Leaders regularly collect food scraps from classrooms for the compost system in the community garden. They have organised “Walk to School” days to encourage reduced vehicle use, and have been involved in tree plantings.
Their contribution to raising environmental awareness was recently recognised through a nomination for the 2024 Tasmanian Landcare Awards.
The school was also successful in obtaining a Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant to build a herb bed in the community garden. The garden is co-located with the school, neighbourhood and child and family centres, and the herb bed will provide fresh herbs for community members and the local food relief kitchen at the Grace Centre.
Students will have a key role in planning and building the herb bed, choosing and planting the herbs, and taking care of it. They will work with the One Community Together Landcare Group who already host weekly working bees in the community. Students from Bayview College will help by propagating herbs taken from cuttings from their school garden. The Rotary Club of Howrah has provided a generous donation to help install the herb bed.
The Clarendon Vale Primary School Environmental Leaders are this month’s Climate Champions, chosen by community organisation Clarence Climate Action.
Eastern Shore Sun, August 2024, page 9