Tag / #KreativeKoalas

by Lynne Strong

🌏✨ Redefining Education with YEC: Where Students Lead the Way! 🎓🚀

Big news from the world of education! The Young Environmental Champions (YEC) program is shaking things up by putting students in the driver’s seat! 🌟👩‍🎓👨‍🎓

🎓 Student-led learning is a vital component of a balanced curriculum. It empowers students to take charge of their educational journey, fostering independence, critical thinking, and creativity. This approach encourages learners to explore topics of interest, develop problem-solving skills, and engage more deeply with the material. By incorporating student-led activities, educators can create a dynamic learning environment that adapts to diverse learning styles and needs, ultimately contributing to a more personalized and effective educational experience. 📚

👀  The Young Environmental Champions program (YEC) is all about supporting teachers to empower students through student-led learning, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to tackle real-world issues. It’s a whole new way of learning where our future leaders aren’t just taught; they’re living the lessons and leading the charge! #StudentLedLearning #SDGsInAction

🤔💡 Our young champs are loving this freedom to explore and innovate. One student shared,

“By combining our ideas, we’ve cooked up something challenging but totally doable!”

This creativity and teamwork spirit is what YEC’s all about. #YouthInnovation #CreativeThinkers

👩‍🏫🔄 Teachers are on board too, finding this approach a fresh and inspiring change.

“Letting go of the reins isn’t easy, but it’s amazing to see the ideas and passion our students bring to the table,” said one impressed educator.

#EmpoweringEducators #FutureFocused

🌱🌍 YEC is more than just a program; it’s a movement. We’re empowering our young guns to connect global issues to local action, building their skills in communication, collaboration, and green job readiness. #GlobalToLocal #GreenJobs

🤝💚 And it’s not stopping here! Thanks to insights from our surveys and experts like Danielle Blenkhorn, we’re expanding!  We have new partners taking the reins, blending YEC with the artsy Kreative Koalas program. It’s a perfect match – mixing art with science and putting young voices front and centre! #SustainableSchoolsNSW #KreativeKoalas

🎉✨ Here’s to a future filled with confident, savvy young leaders who speak sustainability fluently and are ready to make their mark. Action4Agriculture is proud to be nurturing these game-changers! #YouthLeadership #Action4Agriculture

by Lynne Strong

Shining the spotlight on Tarrawanna Public School and the power of the Living Classroom Concept

 

Kreative Koalas – Design a Bright Future has wrapped up for another year with students from multiple schools exploring the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) and taking their peers, their families and their communities on a sustainability journey. One such school is Tarrawanna Public School.

“Tarrawanna Public School (TPS) has been building a culture of sustainability over the past three years. When our principal, Bronwyn Jeffree, started at TPS, she recognised the gaps in sustainability learning and introduced ‘The Living Classroom’ project run by Aaron Sorenson at Elemental Permaculture. Aaron is amazing at what he does and has been instrumental in encouraging sustainability at TPS.” assistant principal Kelly Judd says.

The Living Classroom provided foundations and focus for the school’s sustainability journey.

“The Living Classroom is a permaculture classroom where students establish and maintain different systems,” Aaron says, examples of which include a 4-seasons vegetable garden, composting, biodiversity and themed gardens such as tropical food forests where pawpaw and banana now bear fruit.

The Living Classroom demonstrates care of country. We are informed by the legacy of Indigenous people and are setting up frameworks to work with traditional land owners. At Tarrawanna it is, most importantly, a reconciliation garden,” Aaron continues.

The Living Classrooms are designed by Aaron Sorenson and Dan Deighton of Elemental Permaculture 

Sustainability at Tarrawanna comes from kids teaching kids. As older students (known as Environmental Leadership Ambassadors) progress through The Living Classroom project, they impart their knowledge and understanding to the younger children so that all students from K-6 have some form of sustainability participation. That may be food-scrap collection for the compost, weeding, mulching or harvesting.

“What we hear from our students is they will correct each other if something is placed the in the wrong bin.  They understand the value of the food scraps and how important it is to the garden and the ecosystems,” Kelly says.

The message also reaches families and communities.

“Our experience shows sustainability conversations go home. We’ve had parents ask if they can come in for our Living Classroom lessons (joining their children in a lesson). In these instances, the child becomes the teacher, as students excitedly share ideas about sustainability and the things they can improve around the home to be more sustainable. Families report they have planted vegetable gardens, have chicken coups and are composting,” Kelly says.

TPS furthered their sustainability journey in 2022 when they participated in Kreative Koalas, which inspired them to connect with Wollongong City Council to jointly create a Tiny Forest for the preservation of local wildlife.

“The project has encouraged wildlife back into the area and the students and community monitor the types of animals returning,” Kelly says.

Combining the Tiny Forest, which provides food for native animals, and permaculture gardens, which provide food for students and the community, led TPS to study SDG 2: Zero Hunger for their Kreative Koalas project.

The artwork on their koala Mr T B Kind (short for ‘to be kind’) depicts the animals seen in the permaculture garden and in the Tiny Forest including native bees, kookaburras, the black cockatoo and the iconic Tarrawanna water dragons. These mosaic animals, on Mr T B Kind, are made from re-purposed broken tiles that were discovered as garden beds were created.

“Our Kreative Koala has our community talking. He is the icon in our garden and the children take great delight in sharing the story of why a decorated koala now lives in our school,” Kelly says.

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Rounding out the Kreative Koalas project was an open day held at the school with invitations to parents and community members to visit classrooms and see firsthand the sustainability learning that is happening at Tarrawanna Public School.

“We are very proud of our sustainability efforts and how it has connected our community,” Kelly says.

Congratulations to everyone at Tarrawanna Public School for being a leading light on how sustainability, through programs such as The Living Classroom and Kreative Koalas, can become embedded in the community.

 

 

by Lynne Strong

Robertson Public School making sustainability sustainable and preparing their students for the Green Jobs of the Future .

Students from Robertson Public School with teacher John Crompton and Costa Georgiadis at the Kreative Koalas Awards and Celebration ceremony on December 1st 2022 at Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens

“Young people increasingly see the green credentials of businesses and industries as a key factor influencing their  career choices.”

Kreative Koalas, with generous support from the St Vincent de Paul Society, sees many forms of sustainability and environmental commitment in primary schools. At Robertson Public School they believe in making sustainability sustainable.

“We promote environmental protection and education at Robertson Public School in a couple of ways. We work with the Robertson Environmental Protection Society, to preserve remnant rainforest on our extensive grounds (10 acres), which has inspired us to establish a Tiny Forest.

We are part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden initiative and we have a potting shed and raised garden beds to grow vegetables that go back into our canteen. We have introduced a beehive into the school and will be adding another next year to encourage native bees into the school grounds and to further promote sustainability.

We have a Sustainable Schools grant to establish a glasshouse where we can raise vegetable and native plant seedlings. We are going to create a Farm Gate and sell vegetable seedlings, surplus produce and honey to our local community and whatever money we raise from that goes back into our sustainability practices and in particular into building our Tiny Forest.

But most importantly, we want to make sure our sustainability is sustainable and is something that we can carry forward through a number of years.” principal Gordon Parrish says.

Gordon realises that to do this requires not only the support of students but also their parents and the wider community. Parents and grandparents come into the school to work in the gardens alongside their children and to share their own knowledge. The school is part of the Share Our Space program that encourages community members to use the school grounds during holidays and after school hours, and the students connect with local businesses with a similar sustainability mindset.

“Moonacres is a local café that also has an ethical farm out of town that supplies to restaurants in the area. Our Stage 3 kids will be visiting the farm four times next year to look at crop rotation in different seasons, and then we are going to try and mirror that back at school,” Gordon says.

 

While Robertson Public School currently reports to parents on activities such as recycling, 2023 will see the students take a bigger responsibility in sharing the sustainability message with the community. They plan to create instructional videos on school activities such as building native bee hotels and vegetable gardens and post these to social media.

In 2022 the sustainability message was informed by participation in Kreative Koalas where students raised awareness of all 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The SDG were painted on their koala named Koala T, a reference to the number of times the word ‘quality’ appears in the goals (quality education, gender equality, reduced inequalities). Koala T will become part of the Tiny Forest once planting is completed but for now she sits in the school’s bush medicine garden.

“I think the koala will take centre stage on all our sustainability programs and be a good strong reminder of the practices we are aiming for within our school and community. The kids are the driving force behind our projects and the koala will be the symbol of that,” Gordon says.

https://youtu.be/PFQoOiLHSHM

With all the Christmas rush over and the New Year beginning, why not take some time and have a walk around the Kreative Koalas on display in the Birchgrove at the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens

by Lynne Strong

Announcing the Action4Agriculture Grand Champion Koalas and Archies

 

The Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens in Bowral came alive with cows and koalas on December 1st as Action4Agriculture crowned the winners of  The Archibull Prize and Kreative Koalas.

 

Celebrating resilience and grit, the awards ceremony was a testament to teachers and students who explored ways to show leadership, inspire hope, strengthen their communities, and design a bright future despite the challenges of the pandemic years

 

Special guest Costa Georgiadis was on hand to crown the champion schools who were:

  • 2020 Grand Champion Archibull – Penrith Valley School from western Sydney

  • 2022 Grand Champion Archibull – the Centre of Excellence in Agricultural Education from western Sydney

  • 2020 Grand Champion Kreative Koala – St Brigid’s Primary School from Raymond Terrace

  • 2022 Grand Champion Kreative Koala – Tarrawanna Public School from Wollongong

All schools were tasked with examining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, designing, and delivering a community action project, creating a movement to embed sustainability thinking and actions in our way of life

 

The students presented their learnings through art on either their fibreglass cow (secondary schools) or koala (primary schools).

 

Special awards presented on the day were:

  • The Carmel Mills Memorial Award for Learning with Impact – Chevalier College from the Southern Highlands (The Archibull Prize) and Scot’s All Saints College from Bathurst (Kreative Koalas)
  • The Alan Eagle Watershed Moment Award – Hill Top Public School for reporting sustainability alongside core curriculum subjects on student report cards

Action4Agriculture is grateful for the support of Corteva Agriscience, NSW Government, St Vincent de Paul, Austral Fisheries, Wingecarribee Shire Council and Southern Highland Botanic Gardens which allows The Archibull Prize and Kreative Koalas to be delivered into schools.

These programs empower our students to look at our world differently, explore sustainability and environmental issues that affect our planet and design local solutions to global challenges.

 

Please contact Lynne Strong for photos from the event M: 0407 740 446 IE: lynnestrong@action4ag.com.au