Environment Matters

Student WEN Day 2021

On Friday 26 March, four Year 6 students from the Green Thumbs team, along with Mrs. Parker, attended the very first Student WEN Day, held at St Paul’s Primary school, Albion Park. WEN stands for the Wollongong Environment Network. Each year, teachers from across the Wollongong Diocese spend a day together, sharing ideas on how we can work more effectively as school communities to care for the Earth, in response to Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si: Caring for our Common Home.

This year for the first time, students were invited to their own WEN Day. What a fantastic day it was! Students from 29 primary schools were invited to share the inspiring initiatives their schools were doing to care for the environment, along with making plans for future ideas.

Leila, Caitlin, Kealen and Jakob were wonderful representatives of St Joseph’s at this event. They chatted with students from other schools, listened respectfully to

presentations and joined in the activities and conversations as we discussed how we might continue to improve upon environmental practices already in place at St Joseph’s. 

One of our tasks on the day was to make our own name tags using recycled materials, to serve as a discussion point with others. We chose used plastic chip packets to represent one of the main causes of rubbish pollution within our school. We wrote our names using sand, to represent our local beaches and the devastating effect plastic has on our oceans and ocean life. 

We listened to a keynote speaker named Jack Bern; a very inspiring young man who, at the age of 10 began the charity drive named “Fiver for a Farmer” which raised $1.8 million dollars for farmers struggling during the drought. We made No-Sew t-shirt bags using old t-shirts as a way of upcycling unwanted items into new items! We also wrote a Creation Prayer together which we can share as a school during upcoming environmental liturgies. 

The highlights of our day were Leila being interviewed on WIN News! as well as being given a special WEN badge to wear as ambassadors of the environment, which I know these students will do proudly and enthusiastically.