Catchment Connections workshops

Living Schools is working with the City of Ryde, Hornsby and Hunters Hill Councils to deliver series of three free workshops for local residents who are interested in learning how to better care for and protect their catchment.

We all live in a catchment and the decisions we make in our homes and gardens, such as the chemicals we use, how we design our gardens and the plants we choose, can make a big difference to the health of our creeks and bushland.

The first round of workshops will be held over the coming weeks. Bookings are essential and places are limited to residents of the partner Council areas. The workshops are as follows:

•    Understanding our impact – Sat 9th May, 1pm to 3.30pm
•    Low impact design for healthy ecosystems – Sat 30th May, 1pm to 3.30pm
•    Caring for our creeks by gardening sustainably – Sat 20th June, 1pm to 3.30pm

Each workshop builds on the previous one and participants are encouraged to attend all three, although this is not essential. A second round of workshops will be held in July and August.

Catchment Connections is assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust. For more information or to make a booking contact the City of Ryde on 9952 8222.

Write it up project update

In late 2009 Living Schools worked with the Australian Association for Environmental Education (NSW) to implement the Write it up! workshops and mentoring project. Write it up! was all about encouraging educators for sustainability to develop case studies of their projects and to share what they’ve learned with others in our community of practice.

Ten workshops were held successfully across New South Wales and then ten educators were mentored in the development of their case studies. These case studies are available online at www.aaeensw.org.au. They provide an intimate look at a range of excellent EfS projects including school garden projects, indigenous culture reclamation, online learning and more.

Write it up! was supported by the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change through its Environmental Trust.

Carss Park Community Garden on-track

In late 2008 Living Schools worked with Kogarah Council to initiate a community garden project on a local disused bowling green in Carrs Park.

Following initial promotion and community consultation regarding the concept an enthusiastic group had formed, eager to learn and to put their ideas to the test. Educators worked with the group, facilitating two full-day training session, the first focusing on strategic planning and group development and the second on site assessment and design.

Council’s landscape architect attended both sessions, listening closely to the ideas generated so that they could later be translated into a professional design. At the end of the process a strong group of about twenty people agreed on the date for their first independent planning meeting.

The top-down approach to community garden development is often cited as being problematic, probably due to the many examples where such an approach has failed because the community were never actually given ownership. This project suggests that with communication, respect and genuine shared ownership a community garden can indeed be successfully initiated from above. Council is now working collaboratively with the community group to make the garden a reality. We are eager to see how it progresses.

Living Schools have collated the work of the community group during the two training days to develop policy recommendations for council as well as a gardeners’ guide, gardeners’ agreement and initial action plan. These are available upon request to interested parties.

Stephanie Alexander’s kitchen garden program

Earlier this year funding was allocated to Stephanie Alexander’s kitchen garden program by the Commonwealth Government. This program has been piloted in Victoria and is providing funding for the development of both food gardens and kitchen facilities. Today Nicola Roxon announced funding to government primary schools to support the development of food gardens and kitchen facilities in primary schools.

The first process is for schools to submit an expression of interest via the website.

Getting started in community gardening – a guide

Living Schools has recently partnered with the City of Sydney Council and the Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Networks to produce a guide for anyone interested in setting up a community garden in their area. The guide covers setup, management and maintenance, as well as some of the trickier aspects of social dynamics. Download the 80 page guide for free here

Write it up – case study workshops for educators

Living Schools is currently working with the Australian Association for Environmental Education to deliver a series of workshops on developing case studies of education for sustainability projects around NSW. If you are an educator and are interested to attend a workshop in your area, please get in touch as soon as possible by emailing info@livingschools.com.au or you can download a copy of the Write it Up! guide at http://www.aaeensw.org.au/

Canterbury Youth Environmental Leadership Program

Over the last couple of months Living Schools has been working with Canterbury Council on a youth leadership program to celebrate Youth Environment Day. Through the program, students from four local high schools participated in visioning and strategic planning workshops designed to empower them to take action within their schools and local communities. Projects developed ranged from biodiversity gardens, worm farms and recycling systems to solar panels and rainwater harvesting, demonstrating a broad understanding of environmental issues and their solutions. More importantly, students showed that they have the imaginative vision to design a sustainable future.

10th Queensland Community Gardens Network Gathering

This important event will be held on Saturday 29th June from 9am to 4pm at Westfalen Community Garden in Brisbane. The day will include community garden tours, hands-on workshops and presentations on the how to, why and what of community gardens, local food, social enterprises and other topics. This is a great chance to share knowledge and skills, catch up and make new contacts and friends. Registration details and program are available by contacting Gav at Growing Communities.

Wollongong school learnscapes an inspiration

A recent visit to Cringila Public School was an eye opener to the amazing potential of learnscapes for children to learn not just about, for and in the environment, but also to gain an understanding of nutrition, develop healthy social skills and gain confidence and initiative. Teacher and Permaculture designer Aaron Sorenson holds regular sessions in the garden with students and his approach is participatory and hands-on. Students decide which tasks they would like to work on and collaborate with each other to achieve the desired outcome.

Enthusiasm is high and students often attend the garden during breaks as well as in allocated lesson times. Part of this enthusiasm may be due to Aaron’s respect for the children who he refers to as ‘garden ambassadors’. This role is embraced with pride and taken very seriously, with older students mentoring younger ones and taking on greater responsibility as their skills increase. Some children who previously exhibited pronounced behaviour problems have flourished in this learning environment, becoming easier to communicate with and manage. Successful garden learnscapes have been set up in five local schools with more planned for the future.

Gordon West Public School Rain Garden

Year four students from Gordon West Public School have been working with Living Schools over the last few months to learn about stormwater. In partnership with Ku-ring-gai Council, Dunoon Bushcare group and the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority, students participated in the development of a small rain garden, or bio-filtration device, in a local reserve. The garden is designed to filter nutrients and other pollutants from stormwater, reducing weeds, water pollution and soil contamination problems downstream. The focus was to give students an understanding of their impact on waterways and to help them develop a sense of responsibility and ownership for their local environment. Students enjoyed planting out the garden and later created posters to share their knowledge with other students.