Minister Announces Sustainable Schools Grants

NSW Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell visited Holsworthy HS with local MP, Melanie Gibbons and while at the Community Garden and SCRAP Centre announced the NSW Sustainable Schools Grants for 2020. Holsworthy HS is one of 194 schools statewide to receive a grant and the $15,000 awarded here will fund the initiatives of the Holsworthy Community Garden to integrate Environmental Sustainability projects to the curriculum of the school. SCRAP Ltd will play a seminal role in working with teachers to deliver Project Based Learning to students. All the projects will be assessable within the curriculum while delivering real life outcomes in the garden.

The program will also seek to work with neighbouring schools including Holsworthy PS and Holsworthy Preschool so they too can benefit from buddy systems among students of all ages and with our Community Gardeners through their connections to the schools and our weekend workshops.

A number of external experts will be engaged to deliver projects alongside SCRAP Ltd and the teachers. Among them are The Bower Reuse and Repair Centre (Marrickville), Panania Free Rangers, A Garden for LIfe (Illawarra), Sydney Biodynamics Assn and the Gandangara Local Aboriginal Land Council and others. Together we will be delivering workshops ranging from the Design and Sculpting of a Scarecrow from Reused Materials (Art Curriculum Integration); Biodynamic Composting (Geography – Earth & Environment); Herb Spiral (Industrial Arts CAD/Maths and Food Tech); Planter Box Building and Germination + Mud Brick Making and Building (Science Life Skills and Industrial Arts) to Bush Tucker Gardening (Aboriginal Studies, Food Tech, Health) among other Curriculum Integrated Projects. Each project area will also be offered to the community at our Community Gardening Weekend Workshops throughout 2020.

“In this way,” said Peter Carroll, SCRAP Secretary, “we hope to engender practical ways of environmentally sustainable actions across the community – from home to school and back again. This will ensure our younger generations understand the importance of such practices and that they have the skill set to actually deliver it. In the struggle to ensure a livable climate for future generations these changes across communities have to be based in key institutions like our schools and have resonance back to all our homes.”