The Joondalup Education Support Centre is a sustainable school, where a teacher and an education assistant deliver targeted weekly lessons that help to educate its students, staff, and the wider school community on various sustainable practices.
These sustainability superstars are Sandra Bennett and Belinda Wunhym, who have given much of their free time to growing their sustainability activities into a full-time role and to ensure that sustainable practices are embedded through an ongoing school program.
Sharing its campus with Joondalup Primary School, the Joondalup Education Support Centre assists primary school students who have disabilities and who require additional support, resources or differentiated activities to help with their learning.
In the process of beginning their school’s sustainability journey, a need for authentic learning in this area was identified. This led to an initial vegetable garden idea which has since blossomed into many other sustainable projects which the students now take stewardship of.
Today, nature abounds at the Joondalup Education Support Centre, where students have access to a bushtucker garden, school garden, native plants garden and an orchids project. The vegetable garden has been a big success, with students actively learning sustainability principles including how to make soil from compost and worms, through to harvesting seeds, nurturing plants and cooking with the fresh produce they collect. The school are partners with OzHarvest, FreshSnap and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. An after-school garden club for extra curricula activities also sees up to 40 students managing their 'jobs' in the garden.
The introduction of a chicken coop to the school dubbed ‘Cluckingham Palace’, helps the students to learn about keeping and caring for animals and the impact they can have on reducing organic waste, turning scraps from the kitchen programs into compost for the vegetable garden.
A dedicated recycling hub at the school also partners with community groups on various waste solutions and programs while encouraging its students to become ‘Waste Warriors’. Residents are also supportive of the hub, bringing in their own cans, batteries, stationery, coffee pods and other materials to be recycled.
The Joondalup Education Support Centre are already looking ahead to their next sustainability projects, including litter collection in the community and potentially adopting an area of natural bushland for conservation purposes.
