Greening HartwellReuse the past, recycle the present, save the future

Michael Lee and Alex ParringtonHartwell Primary School

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Embedding sustainable behaviors and practices within the whole school curriculum

Abstract

This project implemented practices and programs at

Hartwell Primary School that permanently changed the schools teachers, students

and the communities understanding and future planning for water, waste, recycling, biodiversity and energy management. The

aim of the project is the give the children at Hartwell ownership of the programs and for them to become the driving force behind them.

School Rebuild in progress

A perfect opportunity to

include sustainable

practices and features in the new buildings

Visual Changes

in the yard

For example: Water Tanks

Recycling Organic Waste

We have 11 Bokashi

Buckets in classrooms

two compost bins and a worm farm.

Our vegetable patch (before)

Our vegetable patch (after)

Collection of overflow drinking water was a huge saving for our

gardens

RecyclingWe initiated a coordinated

recycling program including the

collection of paper, cardboard and the

introduction of council collected comingled waste.

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Native Plants

We have planted over

100 indigenous

plants in the school

grounds

Green Day

As a celebration of our commitment to sustainability at

Hartwell and the work done so far, we had a “Green Day” with a guest speaker. The

kids dressed in green and we had a rubbish free lunch and planted

indigenous trees.

The impacts on our school

•Change in behavior attitudes and awareness•Improvement in use of resources ie water, paper and waste including food waste•Increase volume of recycled materials including paper, cardboard, tins and bottles•The formation of a sustainability committee•Student environmental action teams for weather reports, recycling, water and gardening•Embedding sustainability in the school curriculum

The End...or is it?