The Mansfield Steiner School has been awarded the 2018 Best ResourceSmart School for the Hume Region

The Mansfield Steiner School has been awarded the 2018 Best ResourceSmart School for the Hume Region. Mayor, Harry Westendorp who recently visited the school to give the award said “This school is a leader in our community in all areas of ResourceSmart.  It is so impressive and refreshing to see students who are proud and passionate about what they have done.”

The school joined the ResourceSmart Schools program in 2014. Last year a group of five staff met weekly to further integrate sustainability into the curriculum in the areas of water, waste, energy, biodiversity and harvest. In 2018, the focus was on waste and biodiversity along with the school’s strong kitchen-garden program (harvest).

Each classroom now has five coloured waste bins and signage to help sort the waste. The 2018, the Year 5’s proved to be great waste ambassadors and together with their teacher, Clare Bennetts, created a catchy jingle that they sang to students from K to 10 to help sort their waste into the right bin. Other waste related activities included Year 2 keeping the waterway in the school free of litter. Years 1 and 3 were litter auditors, Year 6’s recorded landfill and recycling bin amounts. Year 5’s harvested and processed cardboard and cared for the worm farms, Years 3 and 4 made compost and Year 2’s looked after the waste eating chickens.

For biodiversity the students planted indigenous species of trees, shrubs and grasses at Rifle Butts reserve with Up2Us as well as in the school grounds. Some students also participated in the Aussie Backyard Bird Survey, looked for frogs and searched for tiny water creatures in lake water.

Students and staff were very proud to receive this award as an acknowledgement of all their hard work and are looking forward to this year’s sustainability endeavours.

Written by Kaz Wilson