greeNSchools

Supporting school communities to implement environmental initiatives...

Schools are important places where the growth and nurture of sustainable behaviours can influence the outcomes of the future. North Sydney Council has a long standing history of partnering with local schools to foster sustainability among students and contribute to greener schools.

greeNSchools supports school communities to develop, implement, review and celebrate environmentally friendly actions. Through a range of initiatives, North Sydney Council will help your school understand and take action on energy, waste, water, climate change and biodiversity.

 greeNSchool Flyer (278KB)

greeNSchools offers:

• Green Schools Grants to implement sustainability projects.
• up to $3000 to develop and implement environmental projects.
• Support with integrating sustainability into the curriculum
• Support with your School Environment Management Plan (SEMP)
• Eco Snapshot audits on energy, waste, water and biodiversity
• Support with securing additional grant funds for a range of water and energy efficiencies
• Information about government grants, rebates and programs
• Access to Sustainability Educators North Sydney (SENS) - a sustainability education network
• Participation and support in a variety of events and programs including National Tree Day and Bushcare; excursions and workshops including stormwater adventures; and composting and sustainable transport initiatives

For further information contact Council's Sustainability Education Officer on 9936 8100.

Useful Links:
www.sustainableschools.nsw.edu.au
www.environment.gov.au/education/index.html

2012 greeNSchool Grants

Schools can apply for funding for a wide range of projects including both educational activities and on ground works. Projects may include the conservation of natural resources, energy and water management, wildlife monitoring programs, waste reduction programs, sustainable and active transport programs, Streamwatch activities, developing and implementing the School Environmental Management Plan (SEMP), setting up environmental clubs, developing teaching resources, or taking part in environmental excursions.

Applications closed on 30 March 2012.  greeNSchools Grant Guide 2012 (170KB)

If you would like to discuss your project idea, or want assistance accessing or completing your application form, please do not hesitate to contact Council's Sustainability Education Officer on 9936 8100.

2010 Green Schools Grants

Council's Green Schools grant program aims to provide local schools with grant funding to develop and implement environmental projects. For schools, this environment may be within the school itself, the immediate school ground or be an area of community concern in which the school can be involved.

7 schools and kindergartens in the North Sydney local government area were awarded with up to $3,000 to implement their environmental or sustainable project in 2010. Successful schools include Cammeray Public School, North Sydney Demonstration School, North Sydney Boys High School, Wenona School, Neutral Bay Public School, KU Grandstand Preschool and St Johns Childcare Centre.

The schools were awarded the grant for their projects which include compost and worm farm establishment, creation of edible gardens, waste audits, environmental workshops for students, environmental documentaries and native habitat creation.

Congratulations to all successful schools and we look forward to seeing the final outcomes!

Stories from GreeNSchools 2010

KU Grandstand Preschool -  Worm Farm upgrade and Veggie Patch

Following the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra Ku Grandstand explored the issues around sustainable use of organic waste through upgrading to a larger worm farm and establishing two large vegetable growing beds.

Having a larger worm farm has allowed the preschool to compost all of its morning tea and lunch fruit and vegetable waste which then has been used as nutrient rich soil for the veggie patch. The two veggie patches have produced fantastic, delicious tomatoes, basil, sage and lettuce which has been used for lunch.

"It was good, it tasted a little bit like a strawberry. Im going to tell mummy that I can eat lettuce nowIt was earlier that morning that Felix's mum said she couldn't get him to try lettuce at home" Caren Walters, Ku Grandstand Preschool staff

St John's Child Care Centre - Our Garden

Setting out to add a bit of green natural space to their playground by establishing a vegetable garden at St John's Child Care Centre, has turned into a daily green class room.

In between conversations on how to save water, reduce waste, the importance of growing your own food and how we need to look after our environment as a whole, staff and kids have enjoyed salads from the garden and mint tea.

The veggie garden has also led to children studying different types of plants and animals and how they grow and change state along with conducting experiments, watching what happens when light, water and/or soil is removed. 

Wenona Junior School - Wenona Eco Garden

Despite some limited free space at Wenona Junior School, the staff and students were determined to explore the wonderful worlds of organic gardening and soil management.

With some good planning and involvement from students in kindy to year 6, three portable garden beds where established and are now providing for the best salads in North Sydney. The lettuce, spinach, endive, snow peas, honeypod peas, celery, carrots, capsicums, eggplants, tomatoes, sage, basil, parsley and mint are going crazy

Along with the gardens a new rubbish bin system is in place to separate food scraps and recyclables to help feed the 6,000 new worms that have moved in, which are now producing lovely Worm Tea for the gardens.

The new gardens, worm farms and rubbish system have also been integrated into the KLA subject areas science, "Living things and Recycling" and PD/H/PE, "Healthy Living".

Cammeray Public School - Sustaining Cammeray Public

Building on a great first phase of the Sustaining Cammeray Public project the entire student body of 760 students and staff have continued to push the  boundary of sustainability within schools.

The first phase saw the establishment of an edible garden, now providing lush veggies and herbs to be enjoyed along side the schools very own wetland know as Frog Hollow.

The second phase supported by the grant saw Year 5 and 6 students develop a range of mini projects to spread the word of sustainability across the entire school. These mini projects included:

 

Kindergarten Green Day: Was a day of short sustainability workshops for kindy students.

Waste free Wednesday: Grade 6 students developed and carried out a lesson plan explaining how to go waste free on Wednesdays.

Plant a tree day : To stop soil erosion on along a slope

500 nativeplants were planted.

Balcony Garden Beds: Eight planter boxes filled with a variety of beans were built to demonstrate what can be achieved if you live in an apartment.

2009 Green Schools Grants

Green Schools Grants were awarded to 7 schools in the North Sydney local government area for projects ranging from: writing School Environmental Management Plans; mini environmental documentaries; recycling depots; composting units and worm farms; weed removal and planting native gardens. Successful schools were: Monte Sant Angelo Mercy College, Neutral Bay Public School, North Sydney Boys High, North Sydney Demonstration School, North Sydney Girls High, St Aloysius' College Junior School, and St Mary's Primary School.

2008 Green Schools Grants

Eco schools grants were awarded to 4 schools in the North Sydney local government area: North Sydney Demonstration School, North Sydney Boys High, Loreto Kirribilli and Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College. Successful projects ranged from the creation and development of an Eco Sanctuary and Green Precinct in school grounds, a school energy and waste audit and development of curriculum units for K-6 focusing on sustainability.

Plastiki comes to Monte

28 July 2010 marked the launch of the new bubblers and water fountains at Monte St Angelo Mercy College with special guests John Dee from Planet Ark and the crew from Plastiki.

The new bubbler and fountain systems were installed to encourage the use of reusable non plastic bottles and was an initiative of the Monte environment club captained by Claudia Saunders. The project was funded by the P & F committee and since installation in the school holidays, feedback has been good.

The next stage of the project is to design a reusable bottle and get rid of the canteen bottle.

Walking Bus

North Sydney schools have set up a number of 'walking buses' to encourage parents, students and teachers to walk safely together to and from school. The idea behind the walking buses is to encourage students to be more active and teachers and parents to leave their cars in the garage.

If you're a North Sydney parent with school-aged children, ask your school whether they run a walking bus to and from school. If they don't, join other parents and start one up. For information please call the Sustainability Education Officer on 9936 8100.