Sustainable Schools - Biodiversity

Parent Green Teams | Landcare | Indigenous Culture | Useful Websites |

Curtin Primary School

Parents at Curtin Primary School have established an environmental action group called the Curtin Green Team. The team has worked in the school with students and staff to create a more sustainable and aesthetically appealing school. Initially small scale projects were undertaken to make the school grounds look more attractive. The Green Team then organised a working bee with over 150 local people attending to help with the project. The project set out to change the original 1960’s garden beds into more modern and water efficient garden areas. The Green Team bought over 4000 plants for the site, which were carefully planted by the students at Curtain Primary. Students were excited to be involved in the projects and have made certain that all plants have survived.

From the great work at Curtin Primary other schools have started Green Teams and are working hard in their schools to develop more water efficient and sustainable landscaped gardens.

Evatt Primary School

Evatt Primary School has also established a parent green team and a case study has been developed to help other parent groups in AuSSI schools do the same.

Click here to read a case study on how their parent green team was established.

Tree planting Landcare is made up of over fifty independent and autonomous organisations across Australia aiming to achieve better environmental management.

Landcare groups in the ACT are supported by three Catchment Coordinators and Landcare Coordinators, who work closely with local communities and across the border into NSW. They play a vital role in helping new groups to form and supporting existing groups in their development and effective operation. Some examples of issues being addressed by Landcare in the ACT are soil degradation, animal pests, weeds, vegetation loss, stream bank erosion, water quality, and urban land degradation.

For further information go to www.actlandcare.org.au or contact:

Waterwatch

Landcare Waterwatch aims to educate and make community members aware of the water quality in their local area. It is a national initiative with each state developing its own resources and programs for the local community. Community members are encouraged to be actively involved in the monitoring of local river health through many biological, habitat and chemical tests.

Educational programs have been developed to get students and the community involved in environmental issues. The programs are hands-on and in the field, lasting around an hour. Sustainable Schools and Waterwatch have been working together to ensure the programs cohesiveness with schools in the Sustainable Schools Initiative. All Waterwatch programs are free to the community and schools.

For more information contact http://www.waterwatch.org.au/index.html

Frogwatch

Would you like to make your backyard, school grounds or rural property more frog friendly? Well our new Frogwatch Leaflet, “Creating a Frog Friendly Habitat” is now available. It includes all you need to know to improve or create an ideal habitat for our local frog species.

Funding for the graphic design and printing of the leaflet was provided by the Australian Government Envirofund (part of the Natural Heritage Trust). This will also fund the printing of 3000 copies of the leaflet. These hard copies will be available soon.

Molongolo Catchment Group

The Molongolo Catchment Group has developed many educational programs around sustainability. They have recently been working closely with Sustainable Schools to enhance their programs to suit the needs of schools. Many of the programs take students out of the classroom to make observations and recordings about their local environment. A great easy program for all ages to get involved in is Frogwatch. This program aims to inform students about river health and frog identification.

For more information contact:

Bayne Geikie on (02) 6242 1191 or waterwatch at molonglocatchment.com.au

An ACT Aboriginal Curriculum Program "Understanding the Land through the Eyes of the Ngunnawal People" has been distributed to every ACT school.

Click here to download an electronic version.