STEM & sustainability update

Our Junior Waste Warriors shared their sustainability knowledge at the Schools Sustainability Festival, while Year 5 students explored the magic of crystal growing with visiting Year 9 scientists.

School Sustainability Festival

– By Phoebe, Grace and Ava (Year 6 students)

On Thursday, 3rd of September, some members of the Junior Waste Warriors went with Miss Sarah to the Schools Sustainability Festival in St Kilda. It was a fun and interactive day where we participated in multiple learning opportunities and even ran our own workshop.

The workshop we ran was titled, ‘Where does it go?’. We taught our group about landfill, mixed recycling, CDS and compost waste through a relay race and quiz game. We felt really proud to share what we do at our school and that we could inspire other schools to do the same to reduce their landfill waste. 

After that, we walked to the St Kilda Botanical Gardens and we got to participate in fun activities from the Eco Centre, Royal Botanical Gardens and Reptile Encounters. 

Budding scientists

Year 9 Port Melbourne Secondary students visited our Year 5 classroom recently to conduct a beautiful experiment... making crystals.  

The budding young scientists created a shape (channelling the Swarskovski design team). They then followed a clear scientific method, carefully measuring ingredients, preparing their solutions and setting their creations aside to see what would happen.

Then came the hard part, waiting patiently for their crystals to grow.

They learnt that when a substance is dissolved in a liquid and the solution becomes highly concentrated, crystals can begin to form as the solution gradually evaporates. At a microscopic level, particles arrange themselves into an organised, repeating structure, creating the distinctive shapes we recognise as crystals.

Thank you to the visiting Year 9 students for sharing their knowledge and showing that science really can sparkle!