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Cringila Public SchoolCringila Public School has an enrolment of 156 students with 3 percent Indigenous Australians, 45 per cent from an Arabic background,35 per cent from a Macedonian background and 10 per cent from anAfrican background Historically the school has catered for children of migrant workers andnew arrivals to Australia, and has a strong multicultural heritage. CringilaPublic School is adjacent to a steel works, and is 5 kilometres from thecentre of Wollongong. The school also operates as a venue for many community groupsincluding several preschools, a community church, a meeting centre forhealth and child development organisations, and the Arabic CommunityLanguage School.

The school ethos In relation to permaculture, the school’s mission is to provide teachingand learning activities that enable students at Cringila Public School toknow, to act, to behave and live the journey towards sustainability. Theschool community — students, staff and parents — works towards thedevelopment of a safe, healthy and sustainable environment and it workscollectively with community gardens and the widerpermaculture/sustainability community to realise its vision.The curriculum links to environmental management and decision-makingto demonstrate:

care of the earthcare of the peopleequity and social justice (a fair share).

Cringila Public School utilises permaculture ethics, principles andpractices in a designed outdoor Living Classroom to:

inspire students to go to schoolrealise the full potential of student learning and growthsupport teachers in the delivery of environmental education and othercurricula from the Department of Education and Communities (DEC)key learning areas (KLAs)develop excellence in learning for sustainability.

The school’s programs aim to engage students in hands-on practicalactivities which facilitate positive and active behaviour toward asustainable future.

Getting started and governanceIn 2003 the school consulted parents, students, staff and communitymembers to determine how to target the issues of childhood obesity andsocial isolation. It emerged that the school community supportedestablishing a permaculture garden, which could promote positivelearning outcomes for students and provide an opportunity for parentsto be involved. As a result an 800 square metre permaculture garden was established in2003, with funds supplied by the Growing Great Gardens Programsponsored by BlueScope Steel. In 2010, using the Sustainable Schools NSW (SSNSW) School EnvironmentManagement Plan (SEMP) builder, Cringila Public School completed adetailed SEMP, which is monitored by the school’s Environmental Team(consisting of all school staff).

Case study

'‘EnvironmentalEducation works withkids on the fringe oflearning. It empowersthem with knowledgeand skills and developstheir trust in teachers.It gets learninghappening.’

David Lamb, former Principal

Strengths

an understanding of how theparts benefit the wholea focus on the best learningoutcomes for studentsa model for permaculturepractice in educationoutstanding networks andpartnerships.

www.cringila-p.schools.nsw.edu.aucringila-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

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Teaching, learning, curriculumThe SEMP aims to integrate learning for sustainabilityacross all KLAs, establish the school as a model forpermaculture practice in education, and create a LivingClassroom area in the school garden. The goals oflearning for sustainability curriculum at the school areto:

develop and implement teaching programs that focuson each stage, completing at least one unit of workrelated to the Living Classroomidentify and/or create links between the curriculumand dates of environment significance (e.g. Plant aTree Day), and create links with community-basedenvironmental projectsdevelop teaching programs that account for andattend to knowledge, skills, values and attitudes andactions for learning for sustainability.

To achieve these goals the school links the LivingClassrooms 4 Seasons program to Human Society and ItsEnvironment (HSIE) and Science and Technology, acrossall stages. Students also grow, propagate, plant andmaintain organic fruit, vegetables and herbs. The schoolhas a Green Dates Calendar to coordinate environmentalevents. Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 students complete units ofwork that are tied to practical activities and they work inthe garden every second Tuesday. In Stage 2, studentsbecome Garden Ambassadors. Once a fortnight, Year 3students are taught permaculture skills that arepractised for one year. Year 4 students mentor youngerstudents and spend every second Tuesday in the gardenor preparing and cooking lunch. In Year 5, students specialise in garden maintenance.This involves weeding, garden bed preparation, tidyingand mulching. Every second Tuesday, Year 6 students inrotating groups assist in the garden with manual labourand completing art projects. Stage 3 students alsoparticipate in the resource management of the schooland monitor the school’s use of electricity and water aswell as participating in the NSW DEC Climate CleverEnergy Savers program.

Resource managementCringila Public School aims to reduce waterconsumption, waste to landfill, and greenhouse gasemissions from electricity use by five per cent from 2009levels. The school developed action plans to achievethese goals. As a first step in reducing waterconsumption, it conducted an audit of water use. Toreduce waste, it began No Waste No Junk Wednesday,and reviewed all recycling programs for efficiency.Teachers have reduced their reliance on paper by usingelectronic communications to send and saveinformation. The school has blended its No WasteWednesday, Crunch and Sip from the Live Life Well atSchool program to create a daily healthy eating andsustainability activity for students. The Healthy Canteenprogram helps link other nutrition messages and actionsinto the whole school.

Using DEC’s Climate Clever Energy Savers program andPower Mate Lite, students are now measuring the energyuse of appliances, and the average time and cost ofenergy use. These activities are linked into the Maths,English and HSIE curricula.

School groundsThe school grounds are used for students to learn aboutnatural and built environments. Gardens are designedand built to support restoration of local plant, animaland bird habitats, and to acknowledge the schoolcommunity’s cultural heritage. The Environment Teamimplements sustainable management of grounds andbuildings; encourages positive attitudes towards nativeplants and animal communities; and reduces weeding bygrowing ground covers and using mulch. This has:

improved water efficiency and biodiversityincreased participation of parents and the widercommunity in school projectssaved fuel by reducing mowingenabled the use of the school grounds as a resourcefor teaching and learning.

Some examples of the many projects include:

building a retaining wall that has been back-filled andplanted with endemic plantsplanting trees for wind protection and to create shademaking swales to direct water to the gardenplanting ‘bush tucker’ species for cooking lessons.

The school trains the students to develop their own skillsand techniques to look after the plants. Key results ofthese programs are:

regenerated former ‘dead areas’ in the playgroundincreased biodiversity of birds and reptiles thatinhabit the school grounds

‘Gardens are designed and builtto support restoration of localplant, animal and bird habitats,and to acknowledge the schoolcommunity’s cultural heritage.’

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reduced levels of grounds maintenance beautified school grounds.

Through funding received under the federalgovernment’s Building Education Revolution (BER) anoutdoor learning centre, cafe, kitchen and classroom willbe built (using recycled and/or renewable materialswhere possible). Students, staff and the community willuse the area as a learning centre, and it will bringtogether the principles of the Living Classroom, school-based programs, Permaculture Partners, andcommunity-based programs. The whole schoolcommunity participated in the planning and design ofthe structure to ensure that it is water, energy and wastesustainable. All appliances in the outdoor learning centreare commercial grade.

Networks and partnershipsThe school found that parents enjoyed contributing tocultural exchange days by providing their national fooddishes. The Environment Team captured this enthusiasmby including parents in working bees, cooking andgardening activities. With the support of BlueScope Steel, which funded allcosts including a graphic design artist, the PermaculturePartners team wrote a corporate business plan. Thebusiness plan, which was endorsed by the local federalgovernment member, outlines the goals, objectives andphilosophy of the program as well as detailing thecurrent situation, the operational and financial plans,and the management and organisational structures ofPermaculture Partners. Its content and presentationdemonstrate to businesses that it is a serious endeavourwith a long-term view. Through the business plan, Permaculture Partners wasable to show possible donors the importance of theLiving Classroom for student learning; to providevocational and educational opportunities leading toemployment; and to build community, business andschool partnerships. To date nearly 60 businesses,government departments and charitable organisationshave supported the program. To thank the donors,Permaculture Partners holds a corporate day each year. The Principal and staff use the SSNSW website to findout ‘what’s going on in other places’. The Principalconsidered the SSNSW website very important forsharing information and success stories. Following the success of Permaculture Partners, theUniversity of Wollongong, Education and Science,arranged with the Principal for 4th Year Educationstudents to link with Living Classroom schools. The school successfully applied for a School HealthIncentive Program (SHIP) Grant for 2010 from SouthEastern Sydney Illawarra Health to provide extrateaching days for the employment of PermacultureFacilitator to provide lessons about growing and cookinghealthy food.

The school is immersed in its wider community throughthe Permaculture Partners project and it has developedoutstanding links to businesses, which support theschool monetarily and in kind. There is flow-on from theschool’s successes, for example it was selected to launchEducation Week for the Illawarra South East region in2010 because it was the Year of Learning forSustainability; and then the school’s involvementattracted a great deal of media attention.

ConclusionCringila Public School has demonstrated the importanceof formal planning in linking learning for sustainability toseven areas:

whole school planningcurriculumgrounds managementresource managementschool community participation celebrating progressfuture directions.

The SEMP outlines actions for both short- and long-termgoals for all of these areas. Learning for sustainability isnot implemented in isolation but it links to the school’sStrategic Management Plan, its curriculum and itsAnnual Report. Learning for sustainability is embedded into the cultureof the school. Its success can be seen everywhere, fromthe many displays of students’ works in corridors andclassrooms to the beautiful gardens and grounds.

Learning outcomesStudent learning outcomes include:

better performance in hands-on work and how thisrelates to inquisitive learning and values educationgreater empathy with world issues such as pollution,sustainability and healthy lifestylesenhanced understanding of the food chain.

Attendance at school has improved and the teachershave also found that students’ self-esteem andconfidence have improved.

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