CCES - CLIMATE CLEVER ENERGY SAVERSIn 2011, Stage 3 students participated in the CCES (Climate Clever Energy Savers) program. This teaching and learning program encouraged students to develop plans of action to help the school reduce its energy usage. Three of the student plans were successful in being funded through the program and are now being implemented in the school.
CARBON COPSCarbon Cops was the brainchild of the ElectroFreaks - Harry Waugh, Kasra Tehrani, Sean Jin, Charlie Wilkinson and Callum Pastuszak (Year 6 in 2011). They proposed forming a team of students called the Carbon Cops whose job it was to check on wasted energy in our school. The Carbon Cops visit classrooms during recess and lunchtime, and put a black balloon on the door of any rooms that are not being used and have left lights/fans/ACs/IWBs on. Successive Year 6 students have adopted the scheme with great enthusiasm and are runnning the Carbon Cops program.
To encourage all students to get involved in conserving energy, all classes that have NOT been black ballooned all week at put into a draw to win the privilege of looking after our Emperor penguin (stuffed animal) pair - Pop and Penny. In the 3 years since Carbon Cops first began there has been a noticeable drop in the number of electrical devices begin left on by classes. Hopefully the Carbon Cops may soon be looking for new jobs !! WASTE FREE WEDNESDAYSWaste Free Wednesdays is an initiative that was started in Castle Cove Public School in 2010 as part of our school environmental management strategy. The purpose of the Waste Free Wednesdays is to encourage students to take small steps to reduce their impact on the environment through waste avoidance, waste reduction and recycling, both at school and at home. The main focus of the initiative is on packaging in school lunches.
Students are encouraged to bring an Earth Friendly Lunch (and morning tea) every Wednesday. They are encouraged to utilise the paper recycling bins as well as the compost buckets and to take home any recyclables that can be put in their own recycling bins at home. The class with the highest percentage of waste free lunch boxes on a Wednesday is awarded the privilege of looking after our Waste Free mascot – Warwick the Wombat (2-6) or Klara the Koala (K-1) for that week. |
EARTH HOUR FRIDAYSEarth Hour Fridays was the brainchild of Hamish Knox, Varun Rao, Levi Hencke and Hamish Davidson (Year 6 in 2011) or the Switcherz. They were inspired by Earth Hour which is a day when people demonstrate their commitment to the earth and to the goal of combating climate change, by switching off all electrical appliances for an hour. The Switcherz thought one hour a year was too little to make a real difference and developed the concept of Earth Hour Fridays for CCPS. All our classes now mark Earth Hour every Friday and switch off all their electrical appliances for an hour. The classes that go beyond the hour the longest will win extra playtime (up to a maximum of 15 minutes)
CASTLE COVE EARTH KIDSEarth Kids is the student environmental group at CCPS. It is organised and run by Mrs. Rao, and meets at lunchtime on Thursdays. Earth Kids act as champions for the Earth in CCPS and look after the vegetable gardens, compost bins and worm farms, promote good waste management practices in the school and other green initiatives. All students in Years 2-6 are welcome to join the Earth Kids group. Please come and see me if you are interested in joining.
There is also a Junior Earth Kids chapter run by Mrs. Auld. These lovely young eco-warriors look after our worm farms on the K-1 site. The worm 'juice' and casts are used by the Earth Kids in the three gardens we look after. They have certainly led to very healthy and tasty vegetables and fruit over the years. Please visit the Earth Kids page for more information. You can also watch their excellent video on best composting practices. SUSTAINABILITY IN SCHOOLS WEBSITESustainability is also embedded across all KLAs in the units of work that students participate in. Mrs. Rao's work in championing sustainability teaching has been featured in a website designed to provide resources for teachers interested in starting on this journey. Click here to visit the website.
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