Drysdale Primary School has been registered ResourceSmart school since 2011.
ResourceSmart is a Victorian Government initiative that helps schools become more sustainable thereby reducing their costs and creating real-life learning opportunities.
The ResourceSmart program is structured around 5 modules:
- Core
- Biodiversity
- Energy
- Waste
- Water
Drysdale Primary School has introduced a number of initiatives as part of our participation in the program. These include:
- Nude Food
- Gardening Club
- Bokashi Recycling
- Green Thumbs Environmental Team
Nude Food
Every Tuesday at Drysdale Primary School, students are encouraged to bring in ‘Nude Food’.
While a rubbish free lunch every day would be beneficial to the school and its environment, on Tuesdays we celebrate all those who are helping to do their part.
Each child who brings in Nude Food, is entered into a weekly draw. At the following Monday’s assembly winners are drawn from Prep – Grade 2 and Grade 3 – Grade 6. Those two lucky winners are given a voucher that has been generously donated by Bakers’ Delight Drysdale.
Gardening Club
The Gardening Club meets at lunchtime every Friday to tend our vegetable plots.
Watering the corn crops
Most of the produce we grow is then sold to staff and parents on Friday afternoons after school. All money raised from the sale of vegetables is reinvested into the Gardening Club by purchasing new seeds and gardening equipment.
Mr K and the Year 1 helpers building a garden bed kindly donated by Bunnings Warehouse
Ready to sell some of the produce
Bokashi Recycling
The Year 1s are responsible for collecting Bokashi from each classroom across the school. We do this each Wednesday and Friday afternoon, weather permitting. Sometimes we can’t collect it, but that’s ok because it means other year levels have learnt how to do it too!
Mr Burnie emptying the Bokashi into one of our veggie garden beds.
Bokashi is Japanese for “fermented organic matter.” This means we collect bread, fruit and vegetable scraps, pencil shavings, brown paper bags from the canteen and even leaves that have made their way in to the classroom. These are all collected in each classroom in to our special Bokashi bucket that has a tight fitting lid. Keeping the lid on tight helps the scraps to breakdown. When we collect the buckets from each classroom we add all the scraps and things that have been collected and pour them in to a larger Bokashi bin. We also add some special Bokashi Powder that helps everything to break down and then once it is full it sits and ferments for 6-8 weeks. After this time the Year 3s dig big holes in our school vegetable garden and pour the Bokashi in to the holes (it STINKS!), they then cover them back up and we wait for the worms and other microorganisms to do their thing and make our soil super healthy ready for new vegies!
Covering up the smelly Bokashi with beautiful fresh soil