A GROUP of volunteers from Glossodia Public School and the local TAFE, dubbed the Green Army, have been busy cleaning-up the dam area on the school grounds.
The students have been studying the local environment and completing a project to investigate how to clean the water catchment by testing water samples and cleaning the surrounding area.
Staff are working towards embedding sustainability across the key learning areas at the school, and have recruited Hawkesbury Council and Longneck Lagoon Environmental Education Centre to assist them in linking content into their programs.
The school has been focussing on the local environment for the last few years, as part of its Live Life Well @ School program, which aims to get more students, more active, more often, as well as focusing on healthy eating habits.
The school was given a NSW Government-funded Jemena landcare grant in 2015, allowing it to set-up worm farms and a composting system to complement its gardening initiative, and employ a teacher to run environmental lessons across the school.
A gardening group was established to revamp the school garden, and students are now able to sample vegetables from the patch.
The worm farms, sustained by food scraps collected by the pupils, produce waste to fertilise the school’s vegetable garden, which in turn grows food for the school canteen.
Glossodia’s initiatives were rewarded at last year’s Hawkesbury Garden Competition, with the school winning best school-run garden constructed and maintained by students, and best overall garden in the north of the Hawkesbury.
