At the start of Week 2 our ‘Planet Protectors’ participated in a full day student workshop at Stirling East Primary School where we  engaged in a number of personal, environmental and sustainability learning activities.

First we explored our character strengths – we learnt that focusing on the strengths we want to develop supports us to live a meaningful, successful and happy life. We worked in our school groups to make a collective chart about the individual character strengths each of us have. We demonstrated the key strengths of creativity, leadership, curiosity and perseverance which will help us our school to make progress with our environmental and sustainability initiatives.

Next we learnt about the importance of quality soil to support microorganisms, to provide a water supply reservoir, as a structure to hold and provide nutrients for plants and a connection to the air. We explored testing soil samples from our school using a ribbon test to determine the level of clay in the soil and pH testing kits to measure the alkalinity and acidity levels. Better understanding our soil structure allows us to improve its composition and with the addition of trace elements and compost we will improve our plant growth and health.

The Stirling East YELP leaders guided small groups on a school tour to highlight their schools work. Some of the things we saw included night cameras, frog pond, native garden and 10c container recycling collection. The frog pond has solved a storm water drainage problem affecting the school oval and the new native garden included various species of plants sourced from the local area. We were treated to a great school band performance showcasing their original song ‘Time to Choose’ written to educate and inspire the school community to use the appropriate recycling bins.

After lunch all the students gathered together to learn how to make newspaper pots for planting seedlings. After watching a short video tutorial we set about the process of rolling strips of newspaper around glass bottles, folding the top edge to seal the paper together and securing the bottom ends so the soil does not fall out. Each school group had the opportunity to make several newspaper pots, fill with soil and plant pea seeds.

Our final activity was making native animals and plants from clay, we were provided with an extensive range of photographs and information on native birds, insects and animals and the animal choice was up to us. Some popular animals students chose to craft were platypuses, birds, insects and marine species. Using a selection of shaping tools we set about creating our animals, adding details and scoring patterns on the surface.

We would like to thank Stirling East Primary School and Jeremy Gramp, Green Adelaide for organising and facilitating a fantastic day of engaging, hands on learning experiences of us and Liz Jarvis for supporting our day.

Ava S, Ishista S, Jack J, Khushi R, Lila S and Scarlett MC

YELP – Youth Environmental Leaders Program