Project Profile

Summary

The children have been engaged in various activities associated with gardening.  These have included waste management practices, which involved the setting up of the compost bin, and responsibility for collecting the lunch time scraps, and waste from the vegetable gardens for recycling, in the compost bin or the worm farm.

The children selected and planted suitable fruit and vegetables, with great success.  This included sowing seeds, tending to them in the greenhouse, planting out when ready and watering, weeding and looking for grubs under the leaves.  The final stage of the process involved harvesting of the seeds for use next year, and then returning the waste product to our compost bin.  They now have a sound understanding of the life cycle of plants and environmentally sound practices, as we have used no artificial fertilisers, herbicides or insecticides.

Their enthusiasm for the environment is fostered in various ways, and we have attempted to make it interesting by providing other activities, associated with the garden, including cooking.  Art and craft activities included making pottery labels for the plants and vegetable juice tie die.   They also made seed balls using peanut paste and various seeds to attract birds to the garden.

The school is currently working towards accreditation as a Sustainable School.  Two of our teachers have attended Waste Wise workshops this Semester, and are introducing sustainable practices in our school.  Some classes are encouraging waste free lunches, and a whole school day is planned.  All of the children are more aware of waste and what to do with it.

The fruit trees will provide much needed shade to our grounds and the vines an attractive feature on the fences.
The project has contributed to our whole school waste management program, through the worm farm and compost bin. Our waste management has improved, with lunch time scraps and vegetation being put into the compost bin.  Next year we intend to further develop this aspect, by having a recycling bin for paper waste.  Ultimately this will reduce the size of our waste which goes to landfill.

The final activity for our garden club this year was a visit to the Lockridge Community Garden, which introduced the children to what our community garden will ultimately be like.  We made pizzas in the wood fired oven, using onions, capsicums and tomatoes from our garden.

Many people have helped contribute to our Community garden project. The Coordinator of Sustainability for City of Stirling, Sonja Farrow, visited our school to see the garden club in action and to look at and agree to the proposed site for our community garden. Anne Goodall from Growing Communities WA provided advice on setting up a community garden.  Janine Freeman, MLA, and member of our School Council provided a garden bed and soil, and will conduct a planting day with the students. The manager of Mirrabooka Coles, presented the school with a package to start the garden. This included garden tools, gloves, seeds and a $50 gift voucher. Mirrabooka IGA donated $1,500 to the school through the Community Chest fund and this will be spent on the community garden. Our school community received regular updates on the garden progress via the school newsletter.  Our ethnic education assistants are the link to our largely English as a second language community.  They were invited to speak to members of their respective communities about their future involvement in the garden.

Thank you Coles for your generous support of our school.  Your commitment has helped to turn our idea into something tangible.  This is a long term project which will have lasting benefits for our school and the wider community.  Your assistance is much appreciated.

Photography

Boyare Primary School