Environmental Programmes

Responsibility

Respect

Integrity

The following school environmental programmes are featured in our special photo gallery

Panalatinga Reserve

Propagation Area

Worms and composting

The Edible Garden

School Wetland Area

Paper recycling

Responsibility

Respect

Integrity

Happy Valley School is very proud of its Environmental Programmes. Our students actively participate in these activities from the time they enter Reception until they graduate at the end of Year 7. All of these programmes provide "hands on" experiences for our students at all year levels.

Our programmes include the following:-

Edible Garden Project
Happy Valley School established an Edible Garden during 2001. The garden is located at the western end of Unit 2, where transportable buildings T7 & T8 used to be. It is a secure garden area measuring 15 metres by 7.5 metres, with a 2.1 metre high tubular steel fence around it. To keep the running of the Edible Garden flowing smoothly for students and teachers, a group of parents formed the "Edible Garden Families". This core group supervises, encourages and generally provides support for the classes in the school. As much as possible the classes are encouraged to run their own plots but sometimes because of a lack of time and the space for a whole class to fit, a parent from our "family" group helps out. Over the past four years, the edible garden has become an extremely valuable school resource that provides an enjoyable hands-on learning experience for the children in our school.

For more on the Edible Garden Project, click on link below
Edible Garden Project

Worm Composting Project
Each day food scraps from the classrooms, from the staffroom and from the canteen are collected and taken to the worm composting area. The monitors add the scraps to the composting bins where the worms grow and multiply. From time to time the worms are harvested and sold to school families, so that they can begin worm farms too and replenish the worms in their garden areas. Recycling food scraps and growing worms provides students with important lessons in caring for the environment.

Panalatinga Environmental Reserve
The Reserve on the southern boundary of the school provides a rare opportunity for students to study and support a natural habitat. The Reserve has become degraded over recent times, but with support from the 'Friends of the Panalatinga Reserve' group, and students from the school, feral plant species are being eradicated and species native to the area are being replanted. The school has developed an environmental trail through the Reserve, and class groups can follow the suggested sites to explore the Reserve and learn about the natural environment, or they can simply explore the plant, animal and bird life where they find it.

For more on the Panalatinga Environmental Reserve, click on one of the links below:-

Panalatinga Environmental Reserve Panalatinga Environmental Trail

Plant Propagation Shed
For over ten years the students at the school have propagated seedlings in the purpose built propagation area. This project has enabled students to understand the needs of growing plants, as well as studying the plants native to our local area. Grape vine cuttings sourced from the neighboring vineyards have also been struck and then grown in the propagation area. These young vine plants have then been made available to school families. In recent years the propagation area has been heavily used by the 'Friends of the Reserve' group to propagate plants from seeds gathered in the Reserve. The seedlings are then planted out back into the Reserve and into other areas that are being re-vegetated with plants native to these areas. National Tree Day is a time when intensive planting out by students takes place in the Panatalinga Reserve.

Paper Recycling
Waste paper from numerous places in the school is gathered up and sorted by student monitors each week, and then boxed up for roadside collection. Recycling paper reduces the amount of waste going in to landfill and provides a useful alternative for this used paper. Recently the City of Onkaparinga provided the school with several recycling wheelie bins, which makes this part of our recycling program even more manageable.

School Wetlands
In 2004 the school developed a wetlands area as part of the school playground. Four ponds were created to take run-off water from the buildings and from the hard play areas in the school. This run-off water works its way through the ponds, depositing any impurities, finally making its way into the street drainage system, when there is an overflow. The wetlands area has been planted out with grasses and shrubs native to the area, supplied by the city of Onkaparinga. While the label 'wetlands' is a misnomer for parts of the year, the mini environment created for plants and small creatures, and the process developed for filtering the waste water, has become a valuable resource for illustrating this important environmental renewal program.

To view a special Photo Gallery of our Environmental Programmes
Click here

Click on any thumbnail below. This will enlarge the photograph. Then you can either click "Back" to return to this page or click "Next Photo" to work your way through our special Photo Gallery.

Composting	Sam at work	"Hands-on"

Worms anyone?	Jayden	Worms, worms

Propagation shed	Nicholas & Alex	Luke & Justin

Loving care	Watering	Edible Garden


Mrs. Neemann's Plot	More loving care	Adam

Eliza	Pond	Hard at it

Our edible garden	First seeds	Parents assist

Paper recycling	Many hands	Jake, Elle & Ben

Wetlands	Rowan & Luke	Searching the pond

Lots to find	Sume	Scott lends a hand

Tash	Testing	Meghan tends a tree

Soil testing	Scott, Tash & Meghan	Panalatinga

Lots to find	Lots to see	On the trail

Taking notes	Nicolle	Shona

Living science	Comparing notes