Sustainability

Outdoor Day 

From the Fair on the Hill, Lilly Gulbenkian was the successful bidder to win an Outdoor Day with Mrs Deegan and Mrs Stewart. Lilly said she chose to bid on this 'Outdoor Day' with Mrs Deegan and Mrs Stewart because of her love of the outdoors and and the teachers. 

We are so grateful she chose this as we had so many ideas lined up. 

We suggested that Lilly invite some of her friends to accompany her. 

These included: Ania, Olivia, Allora, Keira, Kim and Ava. 

There were quite a few tasks for Lilly and her friends to tackle, including tending to the garden, the chickens and sustainability projects. 

First on the agenda was to assemble the bottle top curtain that the year 4 stewards had prepared. This was attached to a window in the Wheeler Wing as a reminder to everyone to consider their use of plastic and remember to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. 

In the garden Lilly and her friends added stakes to the tomato plants tied with old -shirt strips, then added sugar cane mulch to protect it over the summer break. To add extra protection from the heat, they reused some plastic bottles with water feeders attached and embedded these into the garden filled with water.

Then it was time to attack the garden shed! Dragging our heels we actually worked as a team and sorted it out - arranging pots, sweeping the floor, throwing out rubbish and lots more - we were pretty impressed with the final result.

Another project ticked off was the sealing of the large terracotta pots that each child in the school has painted. They now need soil and plants. These will be used to decorate our school and will be a project completed by next year's Sustainability Leaders.

Finally it was time to organise care for the chickens over the holidays. The list of helpers along with instructions have been tethered to the coop for our volunteering families.

Caring for Chickens  - thank you

We have been blown away by the generosity of so many of our families who have volunteered their time during the holidays to care for our school chooks. I am sure both the chickens and the kids will love the experience.

Thank you to the following families:

Farewell

Well it is goodbye from me for now. I have thoroughly enjoyed spreading the message of sustainability at St Justin's through our Kitchen Garden program, the year 4 Stewardship Program and with the Sustainability Leaders and whole school projects and practices. I am grateful for the interest and support of so many people - staff, students, parents and other community members. 

I am indebted to Mr Torpey for allowing me to be creative in this space, and to the wonderful Mrs Cedro and volunteer extraordinaire Mrs Cristiano who have been pivotal to the success of the Kitchen Garden program.

To Mrs Stewart who has generously taken on care of the animals along with her sidekicks Bear and Lulu, our school continues to be in great hands. 

To Mr Di Iorio - thank you for maintaining our garden at St Justin's and for helping me with all my 'ideas'!!!!

It has truly been a privilege meeting each of the students and learning with and from them. What an absolute joy! Thank you also to the many  parents I have met along the way - I have enjoyed our chats and appreciate all your do for your kids and our school.

May I leave you with:

From Mrs Deegan