Narrandera Public School
Narrandera Public School began their vegetable garden in 2012. Since then, they have extended their work to cover the reduction of waste at the school and revegetation works.
For further information on Narrandera Public School, view their website here.
The vegetable garden that started it all!
Around 2012, staff member Lyn Seymour discovered there were no worms in the soil at the edge of the grass area on the school grounds. She set about organising with the Principal at the time to rotary-hoe the area and establish a vegetable garden, with 3 classes (around 60 students) helping.
A few years later, with the help of a generous donation from the Variety Bash Car Rally, the school was able to purchase and install 10 raised garden beds, with the aim of each class taking responsibility for the upkeep of their garden bed.
Students become “Enviro Champions”
In 2015, a group of Year 5 students were selected to be part of an Enviro Champions project, originally run in conjunction with the Riverina Environmental Education Centre in Wagga Wagga, and coordinated by teacher Wendy van Werven. The students decided to focus their project on waste reduction, specifically looking at reducing the amount of food scraps thrown in the rubbish bin.
To achieve this, the school made worm towers out of PVC pipe. The pieces of pipe had holes drilled in them and were buried in each garden bed. Food scraps were then collected from classrooms and deposited in the towers each day.
After a year or so, the amount of worms found in the garden beds was so significant that the school was able to sell some at the local 
Farmers’ Markets, along with other excess produce from the garden!
The School continues to attend the monthly Farmers’ Markets as often as they can to sell products, which ensures the project is self-sufficient.
The following year, through the Enviro Champion project, the students chose to purchase chickens – the food scrap recycling had become so popular that the worm towers were full! In order to raise funds to enable them to purchase the chickens, and fencing for the chicken run, the Year 5 students held weekly “Tasty Tuesdays”, selling cakes to students. The local Men’s Shed kindly donated materials and time to construct an A-frame chicken house.
Each week, classes attend the vegetable garden to tend the plants, and feed and water the chickens (and now ducks as well!) Students involved in the vegetable garden have shown an improved awareness of caring for plants, chickens and ducks. They are eager to contribute to this project and enjoy consuming the fruits of the garden.
Students also have the opportunity to cook with the vegetables and eggs harvested from their garden, giving them important skills in how to cook fresh vegetables. Recipes are taken home, and unfamiliar foods are tried.
A new challenge – recycling
In 2017, the Enviro Champions project took on the task of reducing soft plastic rubbish and improving recycling at the school.
The students undertook more fundraising activities, to allow them to purchase additional classroom bins. When delivering the new bins to each cla
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room the Enviro Champion students talked with the students in each class to educate them on what the new bins were for.
Once a week, the new bins are emptied and the soft plastic is dropped off at one of the major supermarkets in Narrandera or Leeton, where it can be forwarded to Redcycle in Melbourne. This has been an ongoing project and is involving more students from across the stages, to train younger students and ensure the project continues long term.
More students (particularly infants) are wanting to be involved in the weekly ‘bin duty’, showing an interest in what goes on and why. They then return to their classes and remind others of the right thing to do.
Narrandera Public School has also become involved in the Return and Earn scheme. Containers are collected and taken for reimbursement. The funds earned through these deposits are donated to an overseas children’s charity at the end of each year. Over the last 3 years, the school has donated over $800.
The school has plans to bring back “Waste Free Wednesdays”, which helps to take the message home, and encourages students to have conversations with their parents about ways to reduce the amount of rubbish they generate at home.
Connection with Landcare
In 2018, school students assisted the Narrandera Landcare Group to revegetate a local area. In 2019 and 2021, the school worked with Narrandera Landcare Group to plant seedlings at the local wetlands.
Landcare has been a key resource to help staff and students learn more about sustainability. Landcare has made students motivated and interested in the different ways each of them can impact the environment in a positive way, and how that has a positive flow-on effect into the community they live in.
A big congratulations to Narrandera Public School !!!
