Newsletter No. 6
School Environment Awards 2006
The Blue Mountains School
Environment Awards for 2006
will be held on Tuesday 14th
November 2006 (Week 5,
Term 4—please note date
change from previous newsletter) at Wentworth Falls
Public School.
An invitation to the
Awards presentation will
be sent to participating
schools in Week 2 (Fri
28th Oct).
Thanks for your time and
effort to nominate your
environmental/education
projects and I look
forward to seeing you at
the Awards presentation.
The closing date for nominations
was Friday 20th October.
However, if any school needs
additional time to submit
an application, please let me
know ASAP.
Every student at Lapstone
Public School made their own
ceramic tile to decorate the 8
metre long wings. Sophia lets
the children climb on her
massive body and the wings
provide an outdoor classroom
for 2 classes to enjoy
creative learning.
Sophia links the adventure
playground, the native bush
‘backyard’ and the award
Newsletter no. 6
Term 4 2006
School Environment
Network dates
☺ Wednesday 1st Nov.
2006 (Week 3, Term 4)
3:30 —5pm, Lapstone
Public School, Explorers
Road, Lapstone
☺ Wednesday 14th Feb.
2007 (Week 3, Term 1)
3:30 —5pm, Ellison
Public School, Ellison
Road, Springwood
Dragon sighting in lower mountains!
On Friday 22nd September
2006, Sophia the Blue Mountains Marsupial Dragon landed
at Lapstone Public School.
Sophia (meaning wisdom) was
conceived and created by a
couple of artistic parents.
Principal Paul Chisholm has
proudly taken on the role of
dragon keeper!
Blue Mountains School
Environment Network
winning student garden.
Lapstone Public School
won an Australian Open
Garden Scheme award in
2005 which enabled the
school to buy materials.
The generous donation of
bricks, rubble and cement
from the school community filled her inside and
covered her skeleton.
Sophia is very beautiful
and inspires fantastic
stories and poems.
Don’t miss your chance to
see Sophia at the next
SEN meeting on Wed 1st
Nov.
Congratulations Lapstone
Public School!!
Inside this issue:
Golden Paw Award
success
2
National Tree Day
2
Teach sustainability
2
Wentworth Falls
Public School news
3
Bike to School
3
Flotsam & Jetsam
4
School Environment
Network dates
4
Golden Paw Awards 2006—Blue Mountains schools excel
Organisers of the 2006 Dymocks Golden
Paws Threatened Species drawing
competition were so overwhelmed by the
enthusiasm of Blue Mountains primary
schools that they were forced to
introduce a special award category for
the most number of entries submitted.
A staggering 760 entries were
submitted by Wentworth Falls
Public School and Hazelbrook
Public School (10% of all entries
for NSW & ACT!). Many Blue
Mountains school entries were
commended and came in the top
600 entries. These posters were
displayed at the National
Maritime Museum until 15th
October.
The most commonly drawn Blue Mountains
threatened species were the Blue Mountains Water Skink, the Giant Dragonfly
and the Green and Golden Bell frog, reflecting the growing awareness of the
significance of Blue Mountains Swamps as
key habitat for threatened species in the
Blue Mountains.
7,654 pictures were received from
children all across the NSW and
the ACT. It was the greatest number of entries received in the fiveyear history of the awards.
Competition sponsor Dymocks
matched the students effort with
a donation of $1 per drawing to
help Australia's threatened
Animals—a total of $8,000!
With this money PAWS will buy a marine
mammal rescue kit to help whales and
seals in distress.
For more details on the Dymocks Golden
Paws Awards see the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife website on
http://www.fnpw.org.au/index.htm
For more information on the Blue Mountains Water Skink and the Giant Dragonfly see the threatened species web page
on www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au .
A huge thank you to the teachers and
students for participating in the Golden
Paw Awards 2006. From just one local
government area (of 170 in NSW), you
raised more than 10% of the total amount!
National Tree Day 2006
23 local schools participated in Schools
Tree Day 2006. Thank you for your
interest and effort.
Seven (7) of our schools are yet to
complete their National Tree Day planting
in October. Photos & feedback on your
Schools Tree Day activities are most
welcome at [email protected]
I have almost finished the planting
guide I mentioned in the last newsletter. And yes, you’re right, the
planting guide would have been
handy for this year but I’m afraid
it didn’t happen in time.
The guide is for the community and
schools to use for National Tree Day and
other planting events. The planting guide
aims to improve the capacity of teachers,
maintenance staff, students, parents and
residents to plant native trees, nurture
them over time and address common
issues with new plantings.
A copy will be sent to every school in the
near future.
Could schools please return any tubestock
trays to the Wildplant Rescue Nursery or
to Adrienne at Council via hand delivery to
Katoomba office, bring along to the next
SEN meeting or take to the Springwood
Council office or any library to be returned to by internal council mail (please
label for Adrienne).
Next year, I will organise a demonstration
of tree planting techniques at the School
Environment Network meeting prior to
National Tree Day to better equip
teachers to participate in the event.
Photo: Kinder Wattle, Katoomba Public
School. Schools Tree Day 2006
Teaching sustainability
Teachsustainability.com.au is an on-line
database for teachers that enables open &
free sharing of resources developed or
sourced by school teachers and educators.
On this website you can look-up resources
contributed by teachers/educators AND
load-up teaching materials or favourite
resources for others to use in their own
classroom. It’s a place to share your teaching programs and any other resources that
help teachers to educate for sustainability.
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Teachsustainability.com.au has been
created to support the growing
community of teachers who are working towards the goal of educating
students to become critically aware
and active citizens with the skills to
create a sustainable future.
Teachsustainability.com has been
developed by the team
at the Sustainable Living
Challenge (UNSW
Faculty of Built
Environment) in partnership with the
NSW Department of Education and
training and the NSW Department
of Environment and Conservation. The
aim is for the website to evolve over
the United Nations Decade of
Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).
This website is worth a look!
Newsletter No. 6
Wentworth Falls Public School—latest & greatest
Environmental Education Report
Wentworth Falls Public School
Term 2 2006
Year 4 students work in groups of
three to carry out the compost making, under teacher supervision.
Maintaining the school grounds is an
important part of environmental
education at Wentworth Falls Public.
Because Wentworth Falls Public
School hosted the Blue Mountains
School Environment Network in term
2, I would like to highlight some of
the projects going on at our school.
Richard also had some reminder
posters for class monitors to switch
off power when the class left the
room. I have distributed these and
promoted the appointment of
monitors for each class to carry out
this important, power-saving task.
Bordering the Charles Darwin Walk,
we take our responsibility seriously
to keep the stormwater clean of
rubbish as it flows into Sydney’s
catchment. The students all learn
about this pathway from rainwater
to drinking water. Weed control is
closely monitored and student groups
and parent working bees rid the
bushland border of pests – the most
recent being agapanthus. Students
learn that plants like agapanthus have
a place in the garden part of the
school but not in the bushland – a
weed is just a plant out of place.
During the visit to Winmalee Public
School in Term 1, Richard Zoglmeyer
told us his school was using some
recycled paper on the photocopier,
I asked the clerical staff at
Wentworth Falls if they might give it
a go. Very positively, we are now using
some recycled paper – even though it
is a bit more expensive.
I have now mounted a display in the
library to highlight environmental
activities – as Richard had done at
Winmalee. This keeps environmental
matters in the picture and in people’s
minds. My display showed activities
different classes had undertaken e.g.
gathering autumn leaves and storing
them for our compost making.
Rosemary Lathouris and students
promoting environmental activities
undertaken at Wentworth Falls
(photo Nov 2005).
Five classes took part in the tree
planting on National Tree Day. Thanks
to Council, we will plant our free
trees in an area adjacent to the
bushland which needs revegetating.
Photos and a display, plus a newsletter story will promote environmental
education at the school.
Rosemary Lathouris
Keep the Earth cool—Bike to School
A Bike to School program is currently
being developed by Blue Mountains
City Council and Sydney West Area
Health Service to encourage the use
of bicycles as transport to schools
and promote an active healthy
lifestyle.
The Bike to School program is being
developed in Katoomba North, Lawson
and Hazelbrook Public Schools with
an aim to expand to other schools
after this year.
The Bike to School project aims to
improve school infrastructure such
as bike racks, upgrade bicycle routes
and develop student knowledge and
skills regarding fun, safe bicycle
riding.
It is primarily targeted at children 10
years and over, and possibly their
younger siblings, parents and school
staff. It will be implemented in
November 2006.
Blue Mountains City Council and
Sydney West Area Health Service
would love to see a Bike to School
program in all schools in the Blue
Mountains.
Council would like to keep a register
of interested schools for future Bike
to School projects in the near future
if additional funding is available.
If your school is interested in the
Bike to School program please call
Blue Mountains City Council on 4780
5000 or e-mail [email protected]
Dave Logan
Bike to School Project Officer
Blue Mountains City Council
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Newsletter No. 6
Blue Mountains School
Environment Network
Adrienne Murphy
Sustainability Education Program
Blue Mountains City Council
Locked Bag 1005 / 2 Civic Place
Katoomba NSW 2780
(Workdays—Wed, Thur, Fri)
Phone: 4780 5739
Mobile: 0414 195 533 (anytime)
Fax: 4780 5562
Email: [email protected]
BM School Environment Network
Teacher Contact
Richard Zoglmeyer
Winmalee Public School
Lesie Rd
Winmalee NSW 2777
School Environment Network: Next Meeting
Wednesday 1st November 2006 3:30—5:00pm
Lapstone Public School
ALL schools (govt. & non-govt., primary & high)
from Emu Plains to Mt Victoria are encouraged
to come along to the next meeting of the School
Environment Network.
A discussion on the use of walking tracks &
reserves by schools & related educational/
resource needs of schools will be followed by a
tour of Lapstone Public School and meeting
Sophia the Dragon!
Phone: 4754 1574
Fax: 4754 3410
Email: [email protected]
Flotsam & Jetsam
Recycling in schools
My Neighbourhood
The Fact Sheet enclosed in this
Newsletter was prepared in response
to the last School Environment
Network meeting at which the issue
of school recycling was discussed.
Landcom have developed a new computerinteractive teaching resource developed
for primary schools called MY
NEIGHBOURHOOD.
The Fact Sheet is provided so that all
schools have the same information
relating to the NSW Government
school recycling contract and the
Council subsidy of this service
available to all schools in the Blue
Mountains local government area.
It is a great tool for student learning
about sustainable development; planning;
sense of place etc which may suit the
HSIE syllabus.
School Environment
Network 2007 dates
Term 1
SEN Newsletter
SEN Meeting
Week 1 Fri 31 Jan
Week 3 Wed 14 Feb
Term 2
SEN Newsletter
SEN Meeting
Week 1 Fri 27 April
Week 3 Wed 9 May
Term 3
SEN Newsletter
SEN Meeting
Week 1 Fri 20 July
Week 3 Wed 1 Aug
Term 4
SEN Newsletter
SEN Meeting
Week 1 Fri 19 Oct
Week 3 Wed 31 Oct
See you there
www.landcom.com.au/mini-sites/
my_neighbourhood/index.htm
Newsletter no. 6
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