On Friday June 1, 2007 the United Nations Association of Australia held their annual World Environment Day Awards, at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne.

The annual, national awards program, established in 2000, acknowledges action taken at a local level to address global environmental issues.

I was extremely proud to accept the award on behalf of this wonderful school and community.  The programs at Woodbridge School impressed the judges. The two programs are Helping Hands and All Hands on Deck. 

Helping Hands - Community Connections drives the new direction of the Whole School Sustainability Program at Woodbridge School (2006-2007).  It focuses on forming rich community partnerships to support environmental protection.  These partnerships have supported the restoration of coastal wetlands, created organic gardens and rehabilitated foreshore habitats.  Students have been supported through partnerships with community leaders in developing skills and taking action for a sustainable future.  This includes planning and designing endemic and organic gardens, managing a whole school composting system, managing the paper waste, regular water monitoring, rehabilitating the coastal foreshore and collecting and propagating seed.

There is whole school involvement in day-to-day landcare.  Implementation of regular and on-going organisational strategies support sustainability as a positive expectation within the school community.  The Helping Hands community collaboration has supported very positive outcomes in biodiversity, water conservation, waste reduction and organic gardening.  In 2006 as a result of partnerships with the Peppermint Bay Landcare Group, Green Corps, Conservation Volunteers, and local community leaders, 941 days of community support was provided for the Helping Hands - Sustainability Program at Woodbridge School.  This enabled the planting of 1000 native plants and saved an estimated 1.3 million litres of water through extensive water saving measures.  The schools paper waste was reduced by 80% and organic waste by 100%.  Monthly support seminars for people involved with school gardens, from Seed to Plate, attracted over 30 participants from schools in Southern Tasmania.

These collaborations are exciting opportunities for the school community to go forward, gathering skills in partnership.  Students see their involvement with community partners as a relevant and authentic contribution to a community vision.  Future generations of decision-makers will be better equipped to manage issues for a sustainable future.

All Hands on Deck
The Marine Discovery Centre has been part of the educational landscape for 27 years and since 1998 has been managed for the children of Tasmania as part of Woodbridge School.  Complementing the environmental education on land, the Centre’s programs enable 7000 children each year to develop understanding of the importance of marine life in developing a sustainable future.

The school maintains a vessel, the RV Penghana and high school students have hands on, authentic experience collecting data and specimens. World class technology is available to them on the boat and in the Centre. The touch tanks are really popular with primary students.

The prestigious Signode award for the best school based project exploring environmental themes or issues was awarded to Woodbridge School, Tasmania.  The runners up were Lancelin Primary School and Albany Senior High School both from Western Australia.

Alison Grant
Principal

National Landcare Education Award 2006-2007

Acceptance Speech given by Andrey Panevin

Governor General, and Mrs Jeffrey, distinguished guests , ladies and gentlemen. My name is Andrey. On behalf of the Woodbridge School community we would like to thank the sponsors Westpac for this education award.  Woodbridge is a small school in one of the most beautiful locations in the world on the banks of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. We have 230 students, 13 chooks, 4 cows and 100 or so native hens endemic to Tasmania. We are a school community unites and aiming for a sustainable future.

We have saved 1.3 million litres of water by installing waterless urinals, half flush toilets and spring loaded taps.  We have reduced our waste to landfill by 80%. We have zero organic waste going to landfill. All our lunch scraps go to the chooks and whole school composting system. The compost fertilises our organic gardens. We cook and eat what we sow.

The whole school approach would not be possible without the support and inspiration of Mrs Grant our Principal and our special one- of a kind Nel Smit our landcare teacher. Nothing phases them as we problem solve. So thank you on behalf of the paper recycling team, the chook scrap monitors, the cow pat collectors, the organic gardeners, the parents who are learning about sustainable practices from us and our office manager who now orders recycled toilet paper.

We love landcare at Woodbridge School. We are very honoured to receive this award.

Literacy Awards-Poetry Competition
With over 200 entries from schools far and wide (including Kingston, Snug and Margate), it was Woodbridge School that came out winners in the recent Inverawe Native Gardens Poetry Competition.
First place in the grade 4-6 section went to Zoe Dowsett-Clark ($50.00) and Encouragement Award to Purdie Day ($25.00). In the K-grade 3 section Holly Smee received 1st Prize ($50.00) with Mikala Lemoto receiving the Encouragement Award ($25.00). Commended Awards were received by Louisa Edwards ($10.00) and Athena Kemp ($10.00).

If Stars Were Butterflies ...

If stars were butterflies

They will flutter everywhere

They will be colourful and bright

They will fly everywhere in the nice moonlight

Up high, very bright

They will be purple, orange and white

Oh!  If stars were butterflies

What will it be like?

Written by Mikala Lemoto Grade 1/2K

The Sea

The sea at Woodbridge is like a never ending blanket of blue, it sparkles like the stars above.

The sea looks and feels magical, as well as the beautiful creatures in it.

The blanket of blue may look deserted, but underneath the crystal water, is a city of sea creatures.

The dolphins skim the sparkly water, the fish swim and swirl.

The whales make unpleasant noises as they pass by the point rocks.

The long, leafy sea weed rises up into the sky.

Little fish hide in its leafy arms, to hide from hungry predators.  I think about this every day, every night.

But when I go out to sea, I don’t see anything except the horizon.

Written by Zoe Dowsett-Clark Grade 5/6S

Peaceful Beach

Waves smash on the shore while seagulls squeak

We get our surfboards, glide through the waves and then fall off.

We go right out deep and the only thing we see are beautiful colours in the ocean

The blues and greens flush my eyes glitter glamorous colours

We ride the waves back onto the sand

Cool and cold lunch is served

This is our day out on this gorgeous beach.

The Sea

Dolphins gliding through the blue grey water

Sand getting pushed up by the waves

The cold sea breeze whizzing past me

People diving into the water like a cormorant in search of food

But down under sea weed rustles as fish swim past

Finding fossils in the sea ...

The days when weather doesn’t know what to do

In the morning when the sun is fresh,

Breezes are strong, waves crash against the rocks, fish are feeding, birds are nesting, the breeze turns into a wind, all the birds go to shelter for a storm is to come.

Lightning strikes, the waves get bigger,

Soon the beach is covered in water, shell fish take their homes into shore.

As the storm dies down, people come out to collect the shell fish that got washed up on the beach.

Birds come to get the left overs, while dolphins make an act.

Little fish popping up like popcorn getting cooked.

Bugs fly around like little sand, getting kicked by feet.

Divers come in and out with hand full’s of fish.

At last, the day has ended, everybody has gone home.

Crabs come with relief to sun bake, with the last gaze of the sun.

As the sun sets, all the crabs go home, the sea calms down.

The stars and moon shine like a light.

It is soon dark, everyone is asleep

The day shall start, again tomorrow

This is my poem this is the end.

RACT Insurance Challenge Human Powered Vehicle Trial 29 April 2007

On Sunday 29 April 2007 a team of students from Woodbridge School competed in the RACT Insurance Challenge for human powered vehicles (HPV’s) at Salamanca Place in Hobart. They performed very well with the team coming second in the ‘A’ division for High Schools and coming 6th overall from 19 teams competing in the event in the different classes. The team consisted of the following students:

Riders; Dylan Mac, Kate Markellos, Daniel Grimes, Shari Gibbons, Josh Brearley, Ashley
Thomas, Billy Mundy and Asher Robson
Pit Crew; Braiden Grimes, Nik Brearley and Shaun Groombridge

The team completed 206 laps of the 900m course, a total distance travelled of 186km, and, in A Division, came second to Churchill High School from Victoria who also completed 206 laps but who were 27 seconds ahead of our team at the end of the race. 27 seconds difference after 6 hours of racing! How close!

The team had to contend with brake failure, a pedal coming completely off the machine and a total blow out of one of the steering tyres. All these cost the team time on the track while the repairs were carried out as quickly as possible. There were also a number of spills in the slippery conditions as the riders tried to make up lost time.

Without these incidents costing the team race time Woodbridge School could have easily won its division and placed higher in the overall rankings. Next year!

Every team member made a valuable contribution to the teams overall success and the students involved are to be commended on their commitment and team spirit.

The icing on the cake was when Woodbridge’s name was drawn from the hat at the prize ceremony and the school won a new mountain bike donated for the draw by a South Australian team. The bike will be raffled by the School Association and the money raised will be used for next years HPV event.

Mr Fulton
MDT Teacher