Posted 14 June 2020 by Catholic Education in 'Environment Matters' Blog
Schools across our diocese recently celebrated World Environment Day through prayers and actions that invited their communities to take ownership of their environment and actively engage in the protection of our earth.
Since it began in 1972, World Environment Day has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated across the globe. This year’s theme was all about nature and celebrating Biodiversity.
Here are some of the ways our schools marked the day...
St John's Campbelltown held a "green" mufti day raising money for school environment projects. Students also did some nature art with things that they found on the playground. Each student or group of students had a story to tell about their creation especially the footprint representing our human footprint on God's creation. They really enjoyed getting their hands dirty and having free reign over their artwork.
The students at St Justin's Oran Park were inspired to create hand-made craft gifts.
St Michael's Mittagong and St Joseph's Bulli celebrated the day with special prayer assemblies.
At St Anthony's Picton students learnt about different plants and animals that live in various ecosystems across the globe. Year One created their own animals from natural materials and made bird seed feeders from natural and recycled materials.
In Year Five, the focus was on Rainforests and the destruction that threatens the biodiversity of these very important ecosystems. School librarian, Mrs Cordingley organised lots of books for the children to read that were focused on the environment. The library even sold many books to the students for a gold coin as a way of encouraging the reusing of books that the library no longer needed.
Lastly, the whole school participated in a nude food day. Students used containers and beeswax wraps rather than cling wrap. There were more drink bottles used and fresh fruit eaten which means less packaging going to landfill.
The Environment Group spoke to each class to remind the students about their recycling and composting systems. They then went during their lunch break with some infants children to clean the car park and boardwalk outside the school.
At Holy Cross Helensburgh the students participated in World Environment Day by being immersed in a virtual tour to explore God’s beautiful creation and writing a reflective response expressing their gratitude, sense of awe and wonder or appreciation of God’s Creation. Each class received a little pouch of seeds to plant at school or at home.
St Paul's Albion Park celebrated the day by wearing green and spending time outside in nature; gardening, planting vegetables, composting, weeding, mulching and collecting objects from nature.
The students had the best day learning how we can care for the environment and how nature supports life on Earth. They explored how all living things on our Earth are connected and know that to care for ourselves, we must care for nature.
The students loved getting their hands dirty and being in the fresh air whilst learning new gardening skills. They can’t wait to watch the gardens grow and taste some of the vegetables were planted!
