Redbank donates chicken coop and chickens to Richmond North Public School

Richmond North Public School principal, Bradley Thurling, said the coop forms part of the school’s plan for more outdoor, environmental education.

“One of the big things we’ve been focussing on over the past 19 months is developing more opportunities for outdoor education. We’ve built-up a vege garden with a greenhouse and now the chicken coop. It’s a great addition to our school, and the kids are really excited,” Thurling told the Gazette.

“We’re developing a program about gardening and agriculture which will eventually form a pathway with Colo High School for the students who are really interested in that area.”

Thurling said Redbank offered to supply the chicken coop following a meeting about the timeline for the development. The school is expecting more than 100 new students to begin over the coming years as more families move to Redbank.

“They were very keen to explore ways to work with the school given the residents moving in would be looking for schools,” he said.

The coop - which includes an outdoor area and an enclosed run - measures almost six metres long and over two metres wide, and can hold 20 chickens. Redbank also donated bedding for the six chickens, food and water containers, and a supply of food.

Feeding and providing water for the chickens and collecting their eggs will be done by the students on a roster basis, and larger jobs like cleaning will be done by the school’s dedicated gardening group of students.

Eggs collected by the students will be sold to the community to cover feeding costs.

“One of the most important things at school is engagement. Some students are not overly-driven by the written subjects - they like to be hands-on, outside. We feel it’s really important to develop these skills,” said Thurling.

“We want to make school an engaging place and make kids excited to be here and want to come to school.”