Monday 13 February 2012

Enviroschools 2011

During 2011 Gore Main School decided to take the year to 'consolidate' existing Enviroschool projects within the school and to focus on smaller projects with larger groups of students.  Here are some of the ongoing and exploratory projects that were undertaken over 2011.

Worm Farm:  The old worm farm that had been abandoned was cleaned up and rejuvenated.  It is a wooden box that now sits in the middle of the school garden.  Fruit and vegetable scraps are collected by individual classrooms and emptied into a 'main bin' which is then fed to the worms.  This process relies on children understanding about what can and cannot be put in the worm farm containers in each classroom.  The worm farm helps keep our classrooms free of fruit and vegetable scraps and provides beautiful lush fertilizer for our vegetable garden!

Sorting out the food for the worms.... make sure there is no plastic in there!

Healthy compost!  Lots of worms!
Making Bird Feeders:  To make our school grounds a more attractive and happy place to be in we decided to make 'bird feeders'.  We thought that attracting a different range of birds into our school would help with bird identification, beautification and also sustainance for the birds!  We mixed together dripping, jam and seed and spooned it into mesh bags that the birds could easily get to.  After that we went outside to scout out the best location for the bird feeders to be hung.  It was messy work but the results were worth it!  It was exciting watching the birds in the playground feasting on their delicious treats!

Making bird feeders with dripping, jam and seed!
Fantastic bird feeders!

 
Finding the right location to hang the bird feeders!



Paper4Trees:  Gore Main School has been involved in the Paper4Trees scheme over 2011.  Each classroom has a green bin to put any used paper products in.  These are then emptied into a large wool sack which once full is collected by the local paper recyclers.  We recycled 4 large wool sacks over 2011 and will be rewarded with trees for our efforts!  Our plan over 2012 is to continue to reduce the amount of paper waste at Gore Main School.  We can do this by ensuring everybody knows that paper can be used on both sides (GOOS - Good on one side) and by being responsible with our paper usage when photocopying or making resources.  We can all help with paper usage at Gore Main School!

Talents - "Envirostyle" focus:  During Term 3 2011 Gore Main School ran a Friday afternoon 'talents' programme with an Enviroschool focus.  This gave every child at Gore Main School the opportunity to experience different activities that promote sustainability while also discovering new talents in children.  Some of the experiences that were on offer were, making garden sculptures out of recycled materials, planting a native garden, keeping our school beautiful, seedlings, worm farming and native birds.  It was fantastic to see the amazing finished products and results that the children achieved. 

Painted terracotta pots all ready to be planted in!
Designing posters so that people know what they 'can' and 'can't' put in the worm farm!


We have had a terrific year during 2011 at Gore Main School!  We look forward to more 'Enviroschool' work over 2012!